City medic helps bring pioneering kidney stone-removal technology to West Africa

A YORKSHIRE doctor has helped to introduce a new medical procedure in a West African country to remove kidney stones without the need for open surgery.

Dr Harry Bardgett, inset, a consultant radiologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, visited Benin’s principle city and West Africa’s largest port, Cotonou, as part of a collaboration with the Medi Tech Trust. The charity, run by Eastbourne-based consultant urologist, Graham Watson, is dedicated to the promotion of urological surgery and donation of medical equipment and surgical goods in the UK and the developing world.

During the visit, Dr Bardgett and Mr Watson removed kidney stones from

16 patients using keyhole techniques and equipment donated by the charity. The ‘Ultra Mini PCNL’ brings huge benefits as doctors can use much smaller equipment than what was traditionally used to carry out kidney stone surgery in the past. Using ultrasound to guide a surgeon’s access to the kidney for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) allows medics to glean better pictures of the kidneys, allowing them to shatter and extract stones using an endoscope rather than risky open surgery.

The African visit is the second trip Dr Bardgett has made with the charity.

In February 2017 he travelled to Sri Lanka, where the charity has established multiple PCNL sites to allow treatment for patients throughout the island.

He said: “PCNL benefits for patients include reduced blood loss, less damage to the kidney and a shorter hospital stay – for some, the stay can be as little as 24 hours, as opposed to around four to five days.”