Kidney Stone: Kidney stones are small, hard mineral deposits that form inside kidneys. Stones are composed of mineral and acid salts. The medical term for kidney stones is nephrolithiasis, and if they cause astringent pain it’s also known as renal colic.
Symptoms of a Kidney Stone
The kidney stone may not cause symptoms until it bypasses moves within the kidney or passes into your ureter — the tube connecting the kidney and bladder.In this cases symptoms may include:
Astringent(severe) pain in the side and back, below ribs- Pain may spreads lower abdomen and groin
- Pain comes in waves and fluctuates in intensity
- Pain on micturition
- Micturating more often than conventional
- Pyrexia(fever) and chills if an infection is present
- Micturating small amounts of urine
- Pink, red or brown urine
- Foul-smelling urine
- Nausea and regurgitating(vomiting)
- Persistent need to micturate
Causes and Risk Factors of Kidney Stone
Kidney stones are conventionally composed of certain chemicals in the body.High levels of the following in the urine can lead to an increased risk of kidney stones-
- Ammonia
- Calcium
- Cysteine – an amino acid that avails to build protein
- Oxalate (hyperoxaluria)
- Sodium (hypernaturesis)
- Uric acid – a waste product engendered when the body breaks down food to use as energy.
- A low level of citrate (called hypocitraturia) is a risk factor for stones.
Family or personal history- If someone in your family has kidney stones, you’re more liable to develop stones.
Dehydration-You is additionally more liable to develop kidney stones if you don’t take enough fluids. People who live in warm climates may be at higher risk than others.
Certain diets- Eating a diet that’s high in protein, sodium, and sugar may increase your risk of kidney stones. Especially too much sodium in your diet increases the amount of calcium your kidneys must filter and significantly the risk of kidney stones.
Being obese- High body mass index (BMI) and weight gain have been linked to an increased risk of kidney stones.
Certain medical conditions can lead to the high level of these substances in urine.
Colitis (inflammation of the colon causes chronic diarrhea, dehydration, and chemical imbalances)
Gout ( excessive uric acid in the blood) which leads to high urinary uric acid levels
Crohn’s disease (intestinal disorder causes chronic diarrhea, dehydration, and low citrate)
Digestive diseases and surgery-Gastric bypass surgery, inflammatory bowel disease can cause changes in the digestive process that affect absorption of calcium and water, increasing the levels of stone-forming substances in urine.
Other medical conditions- Renal tubular acidosis, hyperparathyroidism, cystinuria, certain medications and some urinary tract infections are lead to the risk of kidney stone formation.
Diagnosis of Kidney Stone
Your physicians will customarily be able to diagnose kidney stones from your symptoms and medical history.
It will be categorically easy if you had kidney stones before.
Tests may be given, including:
- Routine urine tests to check for infections and pieces of stones
- Examination of any stones that you pass in your urine
- Blood tests to check, your kidneys are working properly, and to additionally check the calibres of substances that could cause kidney stones, such as calcium
- Having a kidney stone to analyze will make diagnosis more facile, and may avail your physicians determine which treatment method will be of most benefit to you.
- If have severe pain that’s not controlled by anaesthetics, or have a high temperature as well as pain, you may be referred to a urologist.
Imaging tests
A number of different techniques may include:
A computerized tomography (CT) scan – a series of X-rays in different angles are taken and the computer is used to put together the images.
X-ray – an imaging technique of high-energy radiation to highlight abnormalities in body tissue
Ultrasound scan – uses high-frequency sound waves to engender an image of the inside of your body
Intravenous urogram (IVU) or intravenous pyelogram (IVP) – in this cases a dye that emerges on X-ray is injected into a vein in arm; X-ray image highlights any blockages as the kidneys filter the dye out of blood and into the urine.
CT scans are now often utilized because they’re thought to be more accurate.
Treatments for kidney stone
Small stones with minimal symptoms-
Most of the small kidney stones do not require invasive treatment. You may be able to pass a minute stone by:
Drinking water- as much as 2 to 3 quarts (1.9 to 2.8 litres) a day may avail flush out urinary system. Unless your physicians tell you otherwise, drink enough fluid to engender clear or proximately clear urine.
Pain relievers- Passing a diminutive stone can cause some discomfort. To relief mild pain, the physicians may recommend pain relievers such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen or naproxen sodium.
Medical therapy-Your physicians may give medication to avail pass your kidney stone. This type of medication, such as an alpha-blocker, relaxes muscles in the ureter, availing you pass the kidney stone more quickly and with less pain.
Treating large kidney stones
If the kidney stone is very big to be passed naturally – 6-7mm (about 0.23 to 0.27in) in diameter or larger – may need treatment to abstract it another way.
This include:
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) –most common way of treating kidney stones that(stone) passed in the urine.
Ureteroscopy-if a kidney stone is stuck in a ureter, you may need to have a ureteroscopy, which is additionally sometimes known as retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS).
Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL)- an alternative procedure that may be utilized for more sizably voluminous stones. It may additionally be used if ESWL isn’t suitable – for example, because the person being treated is overweight.
Open surgery- for kidney stones is rare (less than 1% of cases). It’s only customarily used if there’s a profoundly and astronomically immense stone(very large stone)or aberrant anatomy.