Kidney Stone

What is a Kidney Stone?

Kidney stone is one of the most common disease existent among the human population. The most common symptom of kidney stones is excess unrelentless pain in the lower part of the abdomen. The medical term used for kidney stones is renal lithiasis . Although the number of people suffering from kidney stones is on a rise but however it surely cannot be dubbed as a modern mans disease. There have been evidences that show that even Egyptian pharaohs suffered from kidney stones formations.
 

Causes: our kidneys are basically two bean shaped bags located on the backward regions of the stomach. The main function of kidneys is to remove excess fluid, unneeded electrolytes and waste from your blood in the form of urine. The ureters carry urine from your kidneys to your bladder, where it's stored until you eliminate it from your body. The normal precondition of formation of stones is a higher concentration of certain specific substances like calcium, oxalate and uric acid. Stones also might be formed due to absence of stone formation inhibitors like magnesium and citrate. Kidney formation also takes place due too much of acidic nature of the liquid inside.

Types of kidney stones:
1. Calcium stones: normally 80% of kidney stones cases in humans are that of calcium stones. These stones are formed by a compound which is a combination of calcium and oxalate. Excess amounts of calcium are due to very high intake of vitamin D. also higher levels of calcium may be due to your parathyroid glands, which regulate calcium metabolism become overactive. As regards the oxalate is concerned it is caused by intake of diet which is very high in oxalic acids.

2. Struvite stones: This kind of stones formation is more predominant women than in men. They are formed due to chronic urinary tract infections caused by bacteria that produce specific enzymes. These kinds of stones are typically large in shape and have a characteristic stag’s horn shape like features. Straiten kidney stones are the most serious kind of kidney stone formations as it can cause serious damage to your kidneys.

3. Uric acid stones: These kinds of stones are formed by uric acid which is released due to protein metabolism. Normally chemotherapy and genetic factors are the main reasons behind uric acid stone formation.

4. Cystine stones: these are some of the rarest kind of stone formations which are caused by hereditary disorders that causes the kidneys to release excessive amounts of amino acids.

Treatment of stones: treatment of kidneys is very much varied and depends on the gravity of your condition and the type of stone formed. Normally drinking large amounts of water about two to three liters a day is enough to drain out the stone from your system. If this doesn’t helps one of the following modes of treatments is preferred
1. extracorporeal shock therapy
2. Nephrolitothomy
3. Parathyroid surgery
4. Arthroscopic stone removal