Is the Shock Wave Therapy Inviting Diabetes and Hypertension??

Researchers have found out that the shock wave treatment provided to the kidney stones patients acts as an invitation to other diseases like diabetes and hypertension. It has been discovered that the shock wave treatment is having hazardous side effect as it increases the risk of diabetes and hypertension in the patients given this treatment.

Risk for diabetes was related to the intensity of the treatment and quantity of the shock waves administered; hypertension was related to treatment of stones in both kidneys. It is found out that the shock waves lithotripsy uses shock waves to break up the treacherous or closed kidney stone into smaller, sand like pieces which can be passed spontaneously, usually within a month. The patient and the instrument that releases the shock waves both are placed in a water bath. Water allows easier conduction of the shock waves through the patient's tissue and precise focus on the kidney stone.

Mayo Clinic researchers report in the April issue of the Journal of Urology says that patients who undergo the procedure, called lithotripsy, are nearly four times more likely to develop diabetes and face a nearly 50 percent higher risk of high blood pressure over the following decades than those getting alternative treatment.

The doctors say that they are not hundred percent sure that the shock wave therapy would lead to theses diseases in every patient but they have confirmed that there is very high correlation between the two. The risk of developing diabetes after the shock wave treatment is almost four times more than the risk among the patients being treated for kidney stones with the help of medicines. Similarly the risk of developing hypertension is one and one-half times more than the other group of patients being treated by medicines.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, 10 percent of men and 5 percent of women are expected to develop a kidney stone before the age of 70, and Mayo Clinic experts say that about 1 million Americans have undergone lithotripsy so far. Further it is stated that these many people have taken the risk of getting affected by the other kinds of diseases which they can catch as a result of the treatment or that are termed as the side effects of the treatment.