Thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen's Device improves health-related quality of life in patients with kidney stone disease – A randomised clinical trial

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of Dr Allen’s Therapeutic Device in improving quality of life in patients with nephrolithiasis.Materials and Methods: A randomized, interventional, parallel group study was conducted investigating 54 patients aged 18-60 years with nephrolithiasis. 29 of the 54 patients were randomised (1:1) into a treatment group of 15 patients (Group 1) and a control group of 14 patients. The remaining 25 (Group 2) were treated but not randomised as they had stones larger than 10 mm. Both treatment groups used Dr Allen’s Device for 6 months. Their quality of life was measured using the Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life Questionnaire (WISQoL) at regular intervals and compared between the groups. The change in size of the kidney stones was also measured and compared. The trial was registered at the World Health Organisation via the German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS00009367).Results: Thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen's Device for Kidney Treatment showed a significant improvement in HRQoL across all domains of the WISQoL and a significant reduction in size of kidney stones in both treatment groups (p<0.001). There was no significant change in stone size in the control group. Conclusions: The use of Thermobalancing therapy with Dr Allen's Device for Kidney Treatment is effective in both dissolving kidney stones as well as improving quality of life.