Chinese medicine treatment of ureteral stones

  Ureteral calculi are a common and frequent clinical condition. They are particularly frequent in summer. Most often, it presents as severe pain in the lower back, and in some patients the pain radiates to the lower abdomen or perineum. They may present with hematuria or white blood cells in the urine.  Ureteral stones are mostly secondary to disease. The primary lesion is in the kidney. Stones in the kidney descend with the urine stream into the ureter. Small stones can pass smoothly into the bladder and out of the body. Larger stones may often become obstructed in the physiologically narrowed section of the ureter, where the ureter spasms and severe pain occurs. Stones damage the ureteral wall and hematuria occurs. Local inflammation and the presence of white blood cells in the urinalysis. If obstruction is formed, local ureteral extension, hydronephrosis and eventually damage to renal function will occur.  1, traditional Chinese medicine treatment ideas Chinese medicine for the treatment of ureteral stones, but also with the depth of understanding of modern medicine, but also continue to change role. There has been a major change in the theory and concept of treatment for ureteral stones. Traditionally, Chinese medicine refers to stones in the urinary system (including kidney stones, ureteral stones, and bladder stones) as “stone gonorrhea” and uses the treatment of diuresis and detoxification. On the other hand, it increases the peristalsis of the ureter, so that small stones can be expelled from the body faster. However, such treatment methods can often only tie the hands for large stones.  At the end of the last century, as the international research on urinary stones continued to deepen, new technologies and methods of modern medical treatment of ureteral stones, such as ureteroscopic lithotripsy and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, were continuously applied to clinical practice and achieved good results. The emergence of ureteroscopy in this century has provided a near perfect treatment for stones. However, because of the complexity of the patient’s condition, the degree of tolerance to the procedure and the affordability, there are still many stones that cannot be completely removed at once. Some patients need repeated surgeries to clear the stones. Chinese herbal medicine is involved to play the role of a residual stone scavenger. It helps to remove the residual stones by activating blood circulation, diuresis and laxative, which not only reduces the number of surgeries and the pain of patients, but also reduces the financial burden of patients, reflecting the characteristics of effective, convenient and simple Chinese medicine treatment.  3. New concept of staged treatment of stones In long-term clinical practice, some doctors have proposed a new idea of staged treatment of ureteral stones. For stones obstructed in the ureter, different treatment principles are applied in different treatment stages to make the stones easier to be discharged. In the first stage, if the stone is obstructed in the ureter, blood activation and diuretic methods can be used to increase local ureteral peristalsis and local blood flow to loosen the obstructed stone and facilitate its movement; in the second stage, heat-clearing and blood-cooling methods, diuretic and laxative methods, combined with more water, more activities, or ureteral dilating drugs, can be used to make the stone expel from the ureter and enter the bladder; in the third stage, nourishing and blood-activating agents can be used to repair the damaged The third stage is to apply nourishing and invigorating agents to repair the damaged ureteral mucosa. Through this treatment process, the stones can be expelled and the ureteral damage can be recovered quickly so that the patient can heal quickly.  The occurrence and development of stones are closely related to age, gender, lifestyle and season. In recent years, the incidence of domestic diseases has increased significantly because of the increasingly westernized diet with high protein and high fat diet. The concept of treating the untreated disease in Chinese medicine believes that patients should fully understand the basics of ureteral stone development and change their habits in daily life. Drink more water, eat a light diet, have regular medical checkups, and treat ureteral stones promptly if any are found. Through the treatment of Chinese medicine or the combination of Chinese and Western medicine, it can be cured quickly to avoid further lesions.