Kidney Stone

Kidney stones are the kidneys that allow the body to remove waste products so that life can continue. On the other hand, kidneys also have the task of filtering some substances necessary for the body and adjusting their levels, and kidney stones can form due to problems in the mechanism related to this task.

Although it is still not clearly known why these mechanisms are disrupted, it is thought that kidney stone disease occurs due to various factors, from nutrition to genetics, from the geography of the person to gender. For this reason, it is known that people who research how to pass kidney stones have this disease in their genetics.

These stones, which sometimes do not show any symptoms for a long time, can sometimes fall into the urinary tract and cause patients to apply to health institutions with unbearable pain.

How to Identify Kidney Stones?

Kidney stone symptoms: Some minerals in the blood are excreted from the kidneys and are found dissolved in the urine at a certain solubility. However, due to various reasons, the solubility of the crystals decreases and accumulates, and the crystals precipitate in the chamber-like collecting systems in the kidney and kidney stones are formed.

Calcium oxalate stones constitute approximately 80 percent of the stones. In addition to these, stones due to infections, uric acid stones, cystine stones and calcium phosphate stones are also seen.

In the formation of kidney stones, factors related to nutrition are particularly important. The most important of these is not consuming enough fluids. High animal protein intake in the diet, high sodium consumption, excessive use of refined sugars, and excessive consumption of coffee or cocoa-like foods can also be considered among the causes. Urinary tract infections, structural disorders in the kidney, some medications and genetic factors can also be effective in the formation of stones.

Kidney Stone Symptoms

While very small stones can pass through the urinary tract without being noticed, as the stone size increases, they can become stuck in the tube connecting the kidney and bladder (ureter).

Böbrek taşı olan hastalarda en sık görülen şikayet ağrıdır. Bazı hastalarda ağrı fark edilmeyecek kadar hafif düzeydeyken, bazılarında son derece şiddetli olabiliyor. Böbrek taşlarından kaynaklanan ağrılar genelde aralıklarla kendini gösterip kaybolan ağrılar şeklinde görülüyor. Hastalar ağrıyı genellikle “yan ağrısı” olarak tarif ediyor. Bu ağrı dışında, böbrek taşı belirtileri kadın ya da erkek hastalarda şunlardır:

Pain while urinating, blood in the urine, nausea or vomiting, frequent urination, difficulty urinating or urinating in small amounts, fever and chills

In some patients, kidney stones may be detected incidentally during tests performed for other purposes, without any complaints.

Diagnostic Methods

In kidney stone disease, along with the patient’s history and physical examination, urinary system radiography and ultrasonography can be performed to support the findings and clarify the diagnosis. When these two examinations are used together, a large majority of kidney stones can be detected.

Urine analysis is performed to detect urinary tract infections or bleeding in urine that occasionally occur due to stones. In addition, blood tests can be used to determine the nature of stones or to investigate their causes. Non-contrast Computed Tomography (CT) can be performed to detect very small stones or to see the kidney anatomy in patients who are scheduled for surgery. In intravenous pyelography (IVP), another method used to break kidney stones and evaluate the urinary tract, a drug that can be detected under x-ray is administered through the patient’s vein and after the blood is filtered from the kidneys, x-rays are taken while the drug passes through the urinary tract, thus observing kidney stones in the body, blocked areas in the urinary tract and blood flow in the kidneys.

Treatment Methods

After the tests are performed and the kidney stone is passed, the most important factors in treatment planning are the size of the stone and its location in the kidney. As the kidney stone size increases, the patient’s chance of passing the stone on its own decreases. In addition, stones located in the upper part of the kidney collecting system are more likely to pass than those located in the lower part.

The type of treatment is determined by the severity of the patient’s pain due to the stone, whether the stone causes any damage to the kidney, and whether it impairs kidney function.

In frequently recurring kidney stones, determining the underlying cause of these stones is important in treatment. For this, detailed laboratory tests may be required, especially checking the levels of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, uric acid, vitamin D and parathyroid hormone in the blood.

Examining the patient’s urine pH, cystine, uric acid, and oxalate levels in the urine, and treating any underlying metabolic or hormonal causes if detected, is important in the treatment and prevention of kidney stones.

Structural disorders that may exist in the kidney or urinary tract are investigated in detail with radiological examinations and, if necessary, can be corrected with surgical methods.

In the case of persistent kidney stones, drug treatment can be chosen according to the type of stone. Although the treatment method and the drugs to be used vary, the main purpose of the treatment is to increase the solubility of the crystals in the urine and prevent them from precipitating and forming stones in the kidney.

What Can Be Done to Prevent Kidney Stones?

What causes kidney stones or what can be done to avoid this problem is one of the most frequently asked questions. Increasing fluid intake, especially water, is one of the things that should be done to prevent kidney stones. Under normal conditions, urine should be light yellow. Instead of tea, coffee, fruit juices and acidic drinks, water consumption should be increased. Because some of these drinks can cause fluid loss or invite other problems due to the sugar they contain. It should not be forgotten that people who do sports, work outdoors and do intense physical work should drink more water.

Consuming plenty of vegetables and fruits is also very important. Vegetables and fruits reduce the amount of acid in the urine. Therefore, vegetables should be consumed together with animal foods that have a risk of increasing uric acid levels.

For those wondering why kidney stones form, reducing salt and sugar is another method that can be used to prevent kidney stones. In addition, since the amount of salt and sugar in packaged foods cannot be controlled, it is recommended that especially those at risk consume less packaged foods.

Since obesity is also a risk factor for kidney stones, losing weight is recommended to reduce or prevent kidney stones. However, caution should be exercised before resorting to weight loss surgery or rapid weight loss high protein diets.

Blood and urine tests can also be done to prevent kidney stones. Since blood and urine tests usually give an idea of ​​what needs to be changed in the diet, a suitable nutrition plan can be prepared for people at risk as a result of these tests.

How Are Kidney Stones Treated?

90% of stones smaller than 4 mm pass on their own without requiring any intervention. It can be said that half of the stones between 4-7 mm and stones larger than 8 mm rarely pass on their own.

If the kidney stone has started to move in the urinary tract and is small enough that there is no need to break the kidney stone, patients are advised to drink plenty of water and move. The aim is to reduce the problems that may occur during the passage of the stone with painkillers. However, intervention and consulting a doctor may be necessary for stones larger than 5 mm.

The urologist decides whether kidney stone surgery is necessary or not, depending on the location and size of the stone, the patient’s health status and age. It can be said that similar treatment methods are used in children and adults.