Male doctor examining senior woman with a stethoscope

Kidney Surgery

When you are living with a kidney condition, you want to know that your caregivers are providing the most advanced care and treatment available. At Providence, our kidney surgery team takes time to understand your condition and create the right care plan for you. 

You can rest easy knowing your surgery is performed by an experienced urologist in a setting well-known for providing compassionate, high-quality urologic care. We provide comprehensive treatment for a broad range of urological conditions affecting men, women and children. Conditions we treat include: 

  • Chronic kidney disease 
  • Kidney cancer 
  • Kidney donation 
  • Kidney infection 
  • Kidney stone removal 
  • Renal hypertension 
  • Traumatic kidney injury 

At Providence, we use different types of kidney surgery to treat a range of kidney conditions. Our kidney surgery team includes doctors who are experts in surgery and urology. We use minimally invasive and robotic assisted surgery whenever possible, so you get the most advanced care. 

Available treatments include: 

  • Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL or lithotripsy). This non-invasive, outpatient procedure uses sound waves to break up stones in the kidney, bladder or ureter. We perform lithotripsy with general anesthesia or mild sedation, so you don’t feel any pain. 
  • Nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy. We remove the damaged kidney or the kidney, the adrenal gland and nearby lymph nodes. This is a common treatment for kidney cancer. You can lead a normal healthy life with one kidney if your remaining kidney functions well. 
  • Partial nephrectomy or nephron-sparing surgery (NSS). We remove the tumor and surrounding tissue from the kidney. This procedure is often the first line of treatment for some kidney cancers, and when it is important to maintain kidney function. 
  • Percutaneous nephrolithotomy/nephrolithotripsy (tunnel surgery). We use these techniques to remove kidney stones. Your surgeon makes a small incision in your back and threads a small fiberoptic camera and other tiny instruments through the hole. Your surgeon removes an entire stone through the tube (nephrolithotomy) or breaks up the stone first before removing it (nephrolithotripsy). 

Be sure to talk with your doctor about your options and the risk of surgery before deciding on a treatment plan. Open surgery involves larger incisions in the abdomen, side or back.

Minimally invasive surgery uses smaller incisions and special cameras and tools to view and work on the kidney. The benefits of minimally invasive procedures include:

  • Faster recovery
  • Less blood loss
  • Less risk of infection at the incision site
  • Reduced pain