Speaking of kidney stones, maybe not everyone has experience with the disease, but I have met many emergency kidney stone patients during my work in the hospital, their painful look at the onset of the disease made a deep impression on me, so today I decided to popularize the disease of kidney stones with you, I hope it will help patients with kidney stones! Kidney stone is one of the common diseases of the urinary system, and one out of every 20 people may suffer from kidney stone. I. Causes of kidney stones There are many causes of kidney stones, including genetic factors, metabolic factors, infectious factors, environmental factors, dietary factors, anatomical factors, drug factors and so on. The pathogenesis is also very complex. We can briefly introduce the formation of kidney stones by understanding the composition of urine. The main function of urination is to excrete various wastes produced by metabolism. A person excretes about 1500ml of urine every day, taking away about 30g-50g of waste products. These wastes are in high concentration in the urine, but the human kidneys can keep these substances in balance and excrete them from the body in a dissolved state. If there is too little urine, the less soluble of these substances, such as calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, uric acid and magnesium ammonium phosphate, will form crystals – that is, tiny stones. Usually, these tiny stones are excreted unknowingly. The reason for the formation of these stones is that they change some components of the urine and break the balance of the urine, forming tiny stones first, and under the long-term effect of pathogenic factors, the crystals grow and eventually develop into clinically significant kidney stones. Symptoms of kidney stones 1, lumbar colic: renal colic is a typical symptom of kidney stones, usually after exercise or at night suddenly occur on one side of the waist back severe pain, because too much pain is often described as “knife-like”, at the same time can appear in the lower abdomen and inner thigh pain, nausea and vomiting, pale, etc.. The patient is restless and in great pain. The cause of renal colic is a kidney stone blocking the renal pelvis or ureter in the process of expulsion. Many patients present with hidden pain and swelling in the lower back. After the pain, some patients can find stones that are discharged with urine. Hematuria: About 80% of patients with stones have hematuria, only some of which can be detected by the naked eye, and most of which can only be detected by urine tests. 3. Asymptomatic: Many patients find kidney stones by chance during physical examination without any symptoms. 4. Hydronephrosis: The stones block the renal pelvis and ureter and cause hydronephrosis due to poor urine drainage. Some hydronephrosis can be without any symptoms. Long-term hydronephrosis can cause impaired kidney function on the affected side. Bilateral hydronephrosis may lead to uremia in severe cases. 5. Fever: Kidney stones can be caused by bacterial infection (infectious stones) or can induce bacterial infection, leading to fever. Because the stones obstruct the urine discharge, bacteria cannot be discharged in time, which can lead to sepsis in serious cases and endanger life. Treatment of kidney stones The method of removing stones needs to be formulated according to the location, number, size, kidney function, whether combined with anatomical abnormalities, whether combined with infection, and physical status of the stones. Generally speaking, for kidney stones below 5mm, conservative treatment or observation is the main treatment. 5mm~2cm kidney stones, extracorporeal lithotripsy is preferred. Special attention is drawn to the fact that extracorporeal lithotripsy should not be performed based on only one ultrasound result or X-ray, but should be performed after a clear diagnosis. percutaneous nephrolithotomy is preferred for kidney stones over 2cm. After treatment of stones, careful review must be performed to clarify whether the stones are completely expelled. This is very important. Prevention of kidney stones The prevention of kidney stones focuses on finding the cause of the stones and treating the cause or intervening. For example, if a parathyroid tumor combined with hyperparathyroidism causes a kidney stone, the parathyroid adenoma can be surgically removed. Kidney stones caused by narrowing of the ureteral junction of the renal pelvis should undergo junctional plasty surgery. Other congenital and hereditary metabolic factors should be guided accordingly according to their specific conditions. Dietary modification is an important component of stone recurrence prevention. For patients with calcium oxalate stones, the intake of foods that tend to produce oxalic acid, such as spinach, amaranth, hollow cabbage, and mustard, should be reduced, and large amounts of vitamin C should be avoided. For the elderly, calcium supplementation is generally not restricted, but it should be done at the same time as eating. It is not reasonable to say that spinach and tofu should not be eaten. Nowadays, the incidence of uric acid stones is increasing year by year and is related to the excessive intake of meat and fat by modern people. Patients with uric acid stones should eat less purine-producing foods such as animal offal, seafood, beef and lamb, boiled soups, nuts, etc. Drinking water is also an important part of preventing the recurrence of stones. Patients with stones are advised to drink more than 4000ml of fluid daily and keep the urine very dilute by excreting more than 1500ml of urine per day. The recommended daily urine volume for patients with uric acid stones is above 2000ml and for patients with cystine stones is above 3000ml. The main types of water to drink are plain water, pure water, mineral water, light tea water, orange juice & watermelon are good ways to ingest water. Be proactive in drinking water and distribute it evenly throughout the day. Medications: Patients with uric acid stones and cystine stones can take alkaline medications to improve the pH of urine, increase the solubility of uric acid and cystine, and reduce their chances of recurrence. In addition to this, proper exercise facilitates the expulsion of smaller stones. Regular review is an important part of the follow-up.