Painless gallstone removal soon available

Press, 11 May 1989, Page 20

Painless gallstone removal soon available

PA Hamilton Quick and painless removal of kidney and gallstones — without surgery — will soon be available to patients who live anywhere in New Zealand. The treatment will be free under the health system. The new lithotripsy technology, although in use around the world for some time, will be introduced into New Zealand through the Waikato Hospital Board. The policy and planning manager, Mr Alec Sinclair, said other surgery and treatment would not suffer because the board had formed a company to run the lithotripsy service so it could pay for itself. The $2 million machine broke down kidney and gallstones with ultrasonic shock waves. It was being installed as the board was keen to offer this alternative pain-free treatment — one which would hardly disrupt the lives of patients and their families, Dr Sinclair said. There should be virtually no waiting list for the lithotripsy service as the treatment took only 40 minutes to complete. No anaesthetic was necessary and after-effects were minimal.

The average stay in hospital for kidney stone removal by surgery is seven days in a public hospital and for gallstones it is about nine days. Then the patient needs a further four weeks of relative inactivity before returning to normal life. The cost would be significantly lower than that now charged by private hospitals and lower than public hospital charges. Dr Sinclair said. It was intended that patients referred by other hospital boards would be paid for by the referring board, as would their transport to and from Hamilton. Their accommodation for one night at least would be provided by the service, he said. As well, the service would be marketed overseas with the help of a grant from the Trade Development Board — and it was hoped that patients would be attracted from South Pacific countries in particular.

More than half the potential patients for lithotripsy lived within a two-hour drive of Hamilton and the potential market for kidney stone treatment was about 800 patients a year. The new should be able to

treat about 700 of these. There were about 3400 operations done a year for removal of the gall bladder or removal of stones — and about one fifth of those should be suitable for lithotripsy, Dr Sinclair said. Patients who had stones should first see their local doctor about the possibility of this pain-free treatment. Information would be available to doctors and patients to enable them to make a judgment. Patients would be diagnosed and prepared for the procedure by a specialist in their area. It was considered that, for example, a patient with a kidney stone was suitable for treatment, details of the patient’s condition would be sent to the lithotripsy specialist and an appointment made for the patient, Dr Sinclair said. The patient would then be given full details about the treatment and the follow-up necessary after the procedure. Any urgent case could possibly be treated that day — painlessly. The new service was expected to be available by. April 26. # & $