Kidney Stone

Kidney stones (renal lithiasis) are small, hard deposits that form inside your kidneys. The stones are made of mineral and acid salts. Kidney stones have many causes and can affect any part of your urinary tract — from your kidneys to your bladder. Often, stones form when the urine becomes concentrated, allowing minerals to crystallize and stick together. Passing kidney stones can be quite painful, but the stones usually cause no permanent damage. Depending on your situation, you may need nothing more than to take pain medication and drink lots of water to pass a kidney stone. In other instances, surgery may be needed. Your doctor may recommend preventive treatment to reduce your risk of recurrent kidney stones if you're at increased risk of developing them again.

A kidney stone may not cause symptoms until it moves around within your kidney or passes into your ureter — the tube connecting the kidney and bladder. At that point, these signs and symptoms may occur:

• Severe pain in the side and back, below the ribs 
• Pain that spreads to the lower abdomen and groin 
• Pain that comes in waves and fluctuates in intensity 
• Pain on urination 
• Pink, red or brown urine 
• Cloudy or foul-smelling urine 
• Nausea and vomiting 
• Persistent urge to urinate 
• Urinating more often than usual 
• Fever and chills if an infection is present 

Pain caused by a kidney stone may change — for instance, shifting to a different location or increasing in intensity — as the stone moves through your urinary tract. If your doctor suspects you have a kidney stone, you may have diagnostic tests and procedures, such as: 

• Blood tests: Blood tests may reveal too much calcium or uric acid in your blood. Blood test results help monitor the health of your kidneys and may lead your doctor to check for other medical conditions. 
• Urine tests: Tests of your urine, such as the 24-hour urine collection, may show that you're excreting too many stone-forming minerals or too few stone-preventing substances. 
• Imaging tests: Imaging tests may show kidney stones in your urinary tract. Options range from simple abdominal X-rays, which can miss small kidney stones, to high-speed computerized tomography (CT) that may reveal even tiny stones. Other imaging options include an ultrasound, a noninvasive test, and intravenous pyelography, which involves injecting dye into your arm vein and taking X-rays as the dye travels through your kidneys and bladder. 
• Analysis of passed stones: You may be asked to urinate through a strainer to catch stones that you pass. Lab analysis will reveal the makeup of your kidney stones. Your doctor uses this information to determine what's causing your kidney stones and to form a plan to prevent more kidney stones.