Renal Lithiasis or Kidney Stones
What is renal lithiasis or kidney stones?
Renal lithiasis is a disease characterized by the appearance of stones (solid bodies formed by the aggregation of minerals) in the upper urinary tract (kidneys and ureter). Kidney stones form inside the kidney from substances in your urine. They may stay in the kidney or break off and go down the urinary ducts. If the size of the stone or stone is very small, it can be removed with urine without causing symptoms, but if the size is sufficient it becomes trapped in the ureters, bladder, or urethra which later become painful and required kidney stone treatment in Noida.
The most common way to express the disease is nephritic colic: it occurs when a calculus breaks or ruptures and becomes trapped in the urinary tract. By hindering or preventing urine from flowing from the kidney to the bladder, pressure increases inside the urinary ducts, triggering nerve endings in the mucosa and causing pain.
Kidney stones are usually calcium, and less commonly magnesium, uric acid or cystine, depending on the diseases or causes to which they are associated.
Why do kidney stones occur?
In most cases, the cause and disease explaining the production of kidney stones are not identified, and in many cases, their presence is detected when performing an X-ray or other tests for other reasons. Rare are cases where kidney stones are secondary to other diseases, such as hyperparathyroidism, cystinuria, some cancers, laxative abuse, or repeated urinary tract infections. Some medications may also make it easier to produce stones, such as some diuretics and antacids, so you should tell your urologist in Noida about all medications you use if you have kidney stones.
There is a greater predisposition to stone estimates in people with a family history of renal lithiasis, bone disease, gout, repeated urinary tract infections, infancy lithiasis, or previous nephritic colic. In cases where nephritic colic is repeated several times, the best urologist in Noida will perform more tests to rule out the possibility of any of these conditions.
What are the symptoms?
Renal lithiasis manifests clinically as nephritic colic. Nephritic colic is characterized by sudden, colic pain (coming and going) in the lumbar region, unilateral, severe and radiating to the English or genitals. It may also present as acute onset abdominal pain and less than 12 hours of evolution. Pain does not improve with rest and is very often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and with the feeling of need to urinate very often, but urinating very little. Sometimes, with blood in the urine.
Diagnosis is made by clinical symptoms and laboratory or tested urine with test strips in the consultation itself. It is important, in case of colic, to filter the urine to obtain the stones that are expelled and perform an analysis of its composition, says urologist in Ghaziabad.
After treating the pain it causes, the best urologist in Ghaziabad may order X-ray tests for the study of the urinary tract.
How is it treated?
Kidney stone treatment in Ghaziabad is aimed at controlling pain. In case of complications or when colic occurs in people with other serious illnesses, pregnant or with a single working kidney, admission to the hospital may be necessary.
In general, in patients with renal lithiasis where there is a high probability of spontaneous expulsion, and where symptoms can be controlled, are necessary only observation and periodic evaluation.
Recurrences of lithiasis are common. Over the next 5 years, a second estimate occurs in 35-50% of cases, and in 65% over the next 10 years.
In patients with renal lithiasis and frequent colic, action to prevent recurrences is advised:
- Drink more water, up to 2.5 liters of water a day, as water helps eliminate the substances that facilitate the formation of calculations.
- Follow the diet recommended by urologist in Greater Noida. Depending on the type of stone, you may be instructed to eat restricted intake of some types of food. For example, if it is uric acid, reduction in meat intake, especially red meat, game and viscera, may be recommended. In patients with calcium oxalate renal stones, it may be necessary to reduce salt intake and oxalate-rich foods such as beetroot, turnip, spinach, chard, tea or cocoa.
- In some cases, medicines may be prescribed to prevent calcium and uric acid stones.
When stones persist in the urinary system and cannot be removed, extraction may be necessary, by different procedures:
- Litotricia (extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy): by applying shock waves, the kidney stone is crushed, allowing its elimination with urine. It’s an intervention that doesn’t require surgery.
- The so-called technically percutaneous nephrolithotomy, which involves the removal of the calculation through a small incision in the lumbar area.
- Through the ureteroscope, a long, thin tube that is inserted through the urethra, urine bladder and ureter, you reach the location of the stone to clamp and remove it.