A record surgery on kidney stones sans full anaesthesia at Kalutara Teaching Hospital

By Bandu Thambavita - Mathugama

For the first time in Sri Lanka, the stone that occupied the entire kidney of a patient was removed in a surgery called ‘Mini PCNL (Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy)’ performed with the use of a 140W high-power laser technology by a team of medical doctors at Kalutara Teaching Hospital.

Head of the panel of surgeons Dr. Kalana Parana Palliya Guruge told Daily Mirror the patient was awake during the procedure and the surgical team was having a friendly chat with him during the surgery since only partial anaesthesia was administered.

The disease treated was kidney stones. The surgeon said ‘Staghorn calculus’ grows silently and fills up the entire kidney space showing no symptoms. 

He said it will damage the kidney and leave it dysfunctional unless treated. Kalutara is the first hospital to own a laser machine of that calibre.

PCNL doesn’t involve any large cuts. It only utilises a tiny puncture.  An X-ray guided Needle is used to reach the kidney and an ultra-thin tube is placed into the kidney. 

Tiny sophisticated cameras are used to visualize the stone. Laser is used to blast the stone and retrieve it fully. The stone was five centimetres in size.