Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington Hospital Center, Georgetown University, 3800 Reservoir Road Northwest, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
Urolithiasis commonly presents to the emergency department with acute, severe, unilateral flank pain. Patients with a suspected first-time stone or atypical presentation should be evaluated with a noncontrast computed tomography scan to confirm the diagnosis and rule out alternative diagnoses. Narcotics remain the mainstay of pain management but in select patients, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories alone or in combination with narcotics provide safe and effective analgesia in the emergency department. Whereas most kidney stones can be managed with pain control and expectant management, obstructing kidney stones with a suspected proximal urinary tract infection are urological emergencies requiring emergent decompression, antibiotics, and resuscitation.
Written by:
Graham A, Luber S, Wolfson AB. Are you the author?
Reference: Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2011 Aug;29(3):519-38.
doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2011.04.007
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21782072
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