Stones are a common disease in urology, and about 1/17 of Chinese adults have kidney stones. And China has become one of the countries with high prevalence of stones. Don’t look at the stone is insignificant, but it can cause a lot of trouble. What kind of people are prone to urinary stones? Some people with metabolic diseases such as hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hyperuricuria, cystinuria, hypocitraturia, hypomagnesuria, and hypomagnesuria are the more miserable ones, because these diseases are too easy to grow stones, and the recurrence rate is very high, and it is not easy to cure them from the root. Other people are relatively lucky, in fact, they are also prone to the disease, only the susceptibility factors can be overcome, such as people who live in the tropics and subtropics, people who work in a long year in a hot environment, fat, meat-loving partners are included. How do you know if you have urinary tract stones? A portion of people will have pain, usually in the back or side of the abdomen, with varying degrees of intensity. Usually new ureteral stones are very painful and hard to bear, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and when combined with an infection, symptoms such as high fever can occur. Other people feel nothing and often find them when they are examined for other diseases. What about the relationship between the severity of stones and pain? Are stones that do not hurt better? This is not necessarily the case. Sometimes painful stones are better. This is because stones that do not hurt tend to take longer to form, and some are very large and cause more damage. How to detect stones? The first step is to make a clear diagnosis to determine if the stone is really a stone, and to identify the location, size, how much damage it has caused, and how serious the damage to the kidney and ureter is. Usually an ultrasound of the urinary tract is needed. This is because ultrasound is cheaper and has less impact on the body. But ultrasound also has its disadvantages, and sometimes it can even miss the diagnosis. Therefore, when the ultrasound reveals complicated stones or when the ultrasound does not reveal stones but the symptoms are very similar to stones, CT of the urinary tract is a good option, which can not only confirm most of the stones, but also better determine the exact location of the stones and provide the doctor with more reference information, which can be of great significance in formulating a treatment plan. With the development of technology and equipment, minimally invasive surgery is dominant and open surgery is rarely required. What about after stone treatment? Is that the end of the story? Unfortunately, stone surgery is a typical treatment that treats the symptoms but not the root cause, and many patients recur after surgery because the cause of stones is complex and surgery alone cannot eliminate the cause. What should we do to reduce recurrence? In a small number of patients, the cause of the stone can be found and can be eliminated by treatment. For most people, the simple and practical way is to drink more water and make sure that the daily urine volume reaches 2000 ml, and to adjust the diet to avoid foods that tend to grow stones, such as large amounts of animal protein, cola, coffee, etc. If a sample of the stone can be obtained, the composition of the stone can be analyzed, which can guide the dietary adjustment more accurately.