Correlation of Severity of Renal Colic With Clinical, Laboratory, and Radiological Parameters: An Emergency Department-Based Prospective Observational Study

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the correlation of severity of renal colic with clinical parameters like pain characteristics, haematuria and pyuria, laboratory parameters such as inflammatory markers, and radiological parameters including site and size of stone and hydronephrosis. MethodsThe Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) determined the pain severity. Detailed history and clinicodemographic profiling of the patient was done, laboratory investigations were done, ultrasound and non-contrast computed tomography of kidney-ureter-bladder were done and all the parameters were duly noted and correlated with the pain severity. ResultThe mean age of the 183 patients was 43.96 ± 15.16 years, and 62.8% were male. The patients' mean VAS score at presentation was 8.57 ± 1.08. The mean VAS score was found to be statistically higher in patients having a first episode of renal colic, solitary kidney, pyuria, raised creatinine, severe hydronephrosis, and stones located at the renal pelvis. In addition, higher VAS scores led to more surgical interventions. ConclusionThe correlation of pain severity of renal colic with various parameters can aid in the development of quick diagnostic and therapeutic protocols for patients presenting to the emergency department with renal stone disease. This study shows that pain scores can correlate with various parameters and predict the outcome and complications in these patients.

The severity of renal colic pain: Can it be predicted?

“…We also evaluated the psychosocial characteristics of the patients and the characteristic features of the kidney stone, which affect the pain perception of patients with kidney stones. Previous recent studies have only analyzed physiological factors that may affect the level of pain perception in renal colic; to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to evaluate the psychosocial factors that affect the perception of pain in renal colic patients [9].…”