Kidney stones include pelvic stones and calcium stones. The treatment of kidney stones aims to relieve patients’ pain, eliminate stones, protect kidney function and prevent recurrence as much as possible. The choice of treatment depends on the patient’s specific condition. Conservative treatment is suitable for kidney stones less than 0.6 cm in diameter and without obstructive lesions in the urinary tract. The use of large amounts of water, Chinese herbal medicine and moderate exercise will help to eliminate the stones. For those with colic, analgesia and antispasmodic are used. Anti-infection treatment should be given to those with co-infection. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, abbreviated as ESWL, uses external shock waves to focus and break up stones in the body so that they are excreted in the urine. The advantages of ESWL are that it does not require anesthesia, surgery, or hospitalization and can be performed on an outpatient basis. The disadvantage is that it is not effective for larger and more complicated stones and can damage the kidney after multiple treatments. ESWL is suitable for patients with kidney stones less than 2.0 cm in diameter and without urinary tract obstructive lesions. ESWL is not suitable for kidney stones >2 cm (including various calcium stones and pelvic stones) and kidney deerstalker type stones. Due to the large size of stones, a large number of fragments from ESWL treatment enter the ureter to form stone streets, causing ureteral obstruction and recurrent renal colic. The long-term presence of stones causes hydronephrosis and damages kidney function. Kidney stones >2cm are suitable for treatment with PCNL (percutaneous nephrolithotomy), as detailed after. In conclusion, ESWL is selective for the treatment of kidney stones and is not suitable for all patients. Indiscriminate repeated treatment of large-sized kidney stones many times not only does not cure kidney stones, but also tends to cause serious renal function damage. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy, abbreviated as PCNL, is a technique and treatment for removing stones and relieving obstruction through a channel created by percutaneous nephrostomy, monitored by X-ray fluoroscopy or intraoperative ultrasound, with the help of lithotripsy and lithotripsy instruments under direct vision of the nephroscope. PCNL is a minimally invasive surgical technique with a skin incision of less than 2 cm, which has the advantages of high success rate, less pain, less complications and wide indications, and is the preferred treatment for large kidney stones. ④ Open surgical stone extraction Due to the advent of ESWL and PCNL and other techniques, traditional open stone extraction surgery is rarely applied. It is only suitable for very few patients, such as non-functional stone abscess kidney, stone combined with cancer, or those who have failed to be treated by minimally invasive techniques. Ureteral stones can cause severe renal colic, obstruction and hydronephrosis, and the combined infection will aggravate the damage. Different methods of stone extraction should be used according to the location, size, number and kidney function of the stones.