Assessment of sympathetic activity of adrenal medullae in patients with kidney stone treated by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)

Background: Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is the most widely used method for treating kidney and upper ureteric stones smaller than 2 cm due to its effectiveness, safety, non-invasive, and an outpatient procedure. Objective: The present study aims to assess the effect of ESWL on the sympathetic activity of adrenal medullae in patients with renal stone. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the ESWL Unit, AL-Hilla Teaching Hospital, Babil Province, Iraq on 50 patients from October 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022. Before and right after an ESWL session, patients underwent a history, physical examination and laboratory tests to measure their levels of serum catecholamines (CAs). Results: The results of this study revealed that there is a significant increase of serum epinephrine and norepinephrine levels (P-value