There are probably many people who think that if a stone doesn’t hurt, they can ignore it, and some even laughingly say, “I’ve had this stone with me for over 10 years and it’s been fine!” Will it really be fine? In fact, we often encounter cases of obstructive renal failure and uremia caused by urinary tract stones in our urology clinical work, with irreversible damage to kidney function, critical condition, need to rely on long-term hemodialysis to maintain life, and eventually die of uremia, which often do not have obvious symptoms of back pain, but are seen with symptoms of renal failure such as weakness and loss of appetite. On the contrary, those patients who actively seek medical attention for obvious renal colic can manage stones in time with less impaired kidney function. The kidney is a very important organ in the human body, excreting metabolites, maintaining water-electrolyte balance, and having endocrine regulation. How do urinary stones damage kidney function? There are two main factors: causing urinary tract obstruction and inflammatory damage. In addition, there are local mechanical damage, complications of malignant tumors, etc. Long-term consumption of Chinese medicine to remove stones, certain ingredients in Chinese medicine can also cause kidney damage. Stones block the upper urinary tract, causing ipsilateral hydronephrosis and parenchymal atrophy, and stones make urine stagnation easy to complicate infection, leading to inflammatory lesions of the kidney, which will inevitably damage kidney function, and the longer the damage, the more serious it is, which can eventually lead to loss of kidney function. Normal people have two kidneys, if only one side of the kidney function loss, the opposite side of the kidney function is normal, the patient can not feel anything, so it is difficult to early detection and early treatment. If both kidneys are obstructed with fluid, renal insufficiency will appear earlier, and if the obstruction is not released in time, progressive renal failure will occur, and finally a series of complications such as anemia, acidosis, hypertension, heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, etc. will lead to death! What kind of stones are likely to lead to serious kidney function damage? Experience tells us that larger renal pelvic stones and ureteral stones are likely to lead to serious kidney function damage. Because these stones often do not have obvious symptoms of back pain and hematuria, they are not easily detected and often do not receive timely treatment. In contrast, although recurrently infected kidney stones have symptoms of back pain and patients often seek medical attention, they are difficult to treat because of the difficulty of infected stones, and it is difficult to avoid leading to kidney function damage. In addition, if the patient has a combination of chronic diseases that can damage the kidney, such as diabetes, hypertension, chronic glomerulonephritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc., the obstruction is more prone to serious kidney function damage, because the compensatory capacity of the kidney in these cases is much lower than normal, the so-called “leaky house”. In view of this, how to prevent the problem before it happens? Four words: “Regular medical checkups.” Most companies arrange regular medical checkups for their staff, but regular medical checkups are not the exclusive preserve of people who have units! Everyone should be responsible for their own health, should be health conscious and take the initiative to go to the hospital for regular medical checkups. For urinary tract stones, urological ultrasound is convenient and fast, with high accuracy, and can detect stones above 0.3 cm at a good price! It is recommended to have an ultrasound examination at least once a year, and for people who have a history of stones, it is recommended to have an ultrasound examination once every three months to six months. If you are found to have hydronephrosis, urinary stones over 0.6 cm, you must go to a urology specialist for treatment!