6mm Stones
Dr. Naveen Kachroo
Video Transcript
My name is Naveen Kachroo
and I’m a urologist who specialized in treating kidney
stones and also part of the kidney stone Collaborative
where our team is committed to helping you
through your journey with kidney stones.
We received many excellent questions from the worst pain
ever community, and one of the questions we received was,
how long should I wait for my six millimeter stone to pass?
Is there too long? Uh, and does Flomax really help?
Um, these are really good questions
and we know that dealing with passing a kidney stone can be
quite challenging, not just from the horrible pain
and symptoms you’re experiencing,
but from not knowing what to expect
and how long this process is gonna go on for.
So I’ll try to break this down into three parts.
Uh, the first part is, uh, what are my chances
of passing a six millimeter stone?
So, uh, this is considered on the largest
side of stones for natural passage.
As stones sort of four millimeters
or less have a sort of almost 80% chance
of passing on their own
and stones around six millimeters have a 50 to 60% chance
of passing on their own, dependent upon where it is in
that drainage tube from the kidney called the ureter.
If the stone is in the kidney, it may very happily sit there
for many years and may never come out, but it,
or it may even pop out tomorrow.
But if it is in the ureter,
there are generally three places in its journey down
that tube where it may get stuck.
The first is the ureteral pelvic junction, which is the spot
where the, the ureter leaves the kidney.
The second part is the spot just over sort of midway, uh,
down where the ureter crosses over some big vessels
called the iliac vessels.
Um, and then at the point where the ureter sort
of nearing the bladder in the distal ureter
or ureter val Sical junction
or UVJ, generally your chance of passage increases
as it further travels down that ureter with sort
of less than 50% chance when it’s in the proximal ureter,
about 60% chance when it’s in the mid ureter
and over 70% once it gets down into
that lower distal ureter.
How long does this process take?
This can sort of vary depending upon the, the location, um,
especially where the six millimeter stone is, um,
as those which are higher up may take longer,
but on average, we are finding that it takes about four
to six weeks to pass a stone like this.
If the stone hasn’t passed at that six week mark,
this is the point that I would say would be classified
as being too long to allow the stone to just remain there.
Um, and you may need a CT scan
to assess whether it’s still there.
Um, if you’re not experiencing any symptoms, um,
or whether you may need a procedure in order
to remove the stone at that point, your ability to wait
that long will often depend upon how bad your pain is.
Do you have signs of infection?
Uh, are you getting bad symptoms of nausea, fevers, um,
or if there’s any concerns about whether
that stone is blocking the kidney
and causing any sort of damage to your kidney.
If you are experiencing unbearable pain, fever,
persistent nausea, or have any concerns, it is crucial
that you seek medical attention at that point
and not try to wait it out.
The other part of the question was, was does flomax
that medication help you
and I, I would say yes, Flomax can help.
It is a medication, uh, which is called a, an alpha blocker,
and this is really designed to relax the muscles
of the ureter to help the stone pass.
Studies have shown that it can increase the chance
of passing stones, especially those in the lower part
of the ureter, uh,
and for stones that are less than 10 millimeters.
But it is not a guarantee
that it will allow that stone to pass.
Not all experts feel that it is worthwhile
and there is some sort of controversy in the literature.
I personally like to use it.
I think it does help with stone passage.
I think it helps with some of your pain control
and it can also help if you are planning a stone removal
procedure if we are to sort of go up
that drainage tube to treat the stone.
It is important to understand that, that
that medication does have some side effects, um, such
as effects on your blood pressure
so it can drop your blood pressure
and cause dizziness, um, among males.
It can affect ejaculation, uh,
whilst taking that medication.
And it’s also important that if you are due
to undergo cataract surgery, that, that you’re aware
that it may affect like the outcome of fat surgery.
Thanks.