Kidney Stone Center

Research

Many research studies are underway at Kidney Stone Center at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Clinicians in the Kidney Stone Center work to reduce the risk of radiation exposure by using ultrasounds instead of tradition CT scans for diagnosis. As a part of this effort, a comparison study was performed to access the accuracy of CT scans versus ultrasounds in children. It was found that in 86 percent of cases, ultrasounds were nearly as accurate as CT scans in detecting kidney stones. In the instances where the CT scan identified a stone that the ultrasound did not, the size of the stone was relatively insignificant –around 2.3mm. It was concluded that ultrasound is a diagnostic tool that is safer and equally as effective as CT scans.

In a second study, researchers observed how much fluoroscopy was being used in the operating room and the ways in which it was being set up. It was found that the radiation exposure from the fluoroscopy was not inconsequential. In response, clinicians in the Kidney Stone Center have set up an active protocol to monitor and minimize the amount of fluoroscopy time that children receive in the operating room.

Caleb P. Nelson, MD, MPH, co-director of the Kidney Stone Center, is working in collaboration with clinical fellows to observe aspects of pediatric stone disease, such as their association with obesity