Nephrolithiasis (kidney stones)

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escription

Nephrolithiasis refers specifically to kidney stones, but ureteral calculi (ureterolithiasis) are often also considered. The ureteric stones almost always originate in the kidneys, although they continue to grow once they become lodged in the ureter.

Acute renal colic is probably the most excruciatingly painful event that a person can endure. Striking without warning, the pain is often described as worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery. Renal colic affects many people every year.

Causes and Risk Factors

The causes and risk factors for stone formation include: food (too rich in animal protein and fat), increased excretion of oxalic acid caused by the consumption of foods containing oxalate (rhubarb, beetroot), the urine volume too low (insufficient fluid intake or fluid loss through sweating), infections of repeated urinary tract, lack of physical effort, metabolic diseases, malformations or narrowing of the urinary tract, significant weight loss.

Diagnosis and treatment

The initial management consists of diagnosis, rapid initial treatment, and appropriate consultations, but efforts must be addressed simultaneously with patient education, including the initial steps of preventive therapy. The non-surgical treatment included extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: stones are located using ultrasound, and then fragmented using shock waves, and then eliminated with urine. Surgery may be performed to remove the stones. ...