?Stones? Tour Shocks Patients

Northwest Health System is billing its latest kidney stone treatment as “Stones on Tour,” a colorful description of treatment for what can be a very painful ailment.

The treatment uses shockwave therapy to shatter kidney stones. The “on tour” portion of the slogan refers to the rolling mobile unit in which the treatment is administered.

Using shockwave therapy, the treatment has an efficiency rate of 90 percent and leaves no residual stone fragments, the hospital says. Pinpoint accuracy makes it possible to treat stones throughout the urinary tract while helping assure less than a 4 percent retreatment rate.

Northwest is offering the treatment at both Northwest Medical Center in Springdale and at Bates Medical Center in Bentonville. The treatment is administered by Medstone International Inc.’s mobile lithotripsy service. The Medstone Shockwave Therapy System allows anesthesia to be tailored to the needs of each patient.

An exclusive computer-controlled stone localization system, called the Intensified Radiographic Imagine System or IRIS, is used along with radiographic images and ultrasound to locate stones throughout the urinary tract. IRIS eliminates the need for X-ray film processing so the attending physician can view images instantly.

Physicians who helped in the project include William Higginbothom, Stephen Shaddox and James D. Pickett, all from Northwest Arkansas Urology Associates; J. Thomas Turley from Turley Urology – Impotence Center; and Orlando Agullar-Guzman from Urology Associates of Northwest Arkansas.