How are urinary stones treated?

Urinary stones include upper and lower urinary tract stones. Upper urinary tract stones are kidney and ureteral stones and lower urinary tract stones are bladder and urethra stones. Depending on the composition of the stones, their size and location, the treatment is different. The general principle of urinary tract stone treatment is to relieve patient’s pain, relieve obstruction, protect kidney function, effectively remove stones, treat the cause of the disease and prevent recurrence. The treatment methods for urinary stones include stone removal, stone dissolution, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, ureteroscopic lithotripsy, percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, cystoscopic lithotripsy and lithotripsy. Kidney, ureter, bladder stones with a diameter of less than 6 mm can usually be expelled from the body by themselves, and can be treated with lithotripsy by drinking more water, being more active, and drinking around 2,500 milliliters of water. For patients whose lab results are uric acid stones, infected stones or cystine stones can be treated with medication for stone dissolution, commonly used stone dissolving medications include allopurinol, acetylcysteine, nephrolithin, and so on. For stones with a diameter of 7-20 mm, if there is no urinary tract obstruction, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy can be performed. Some stones are larger and harder, and a lithotripsy may not be able to play a good effect, so lithotripsy can be repeated for 3-5 times, with an interval of 2 weeks between each time. For larger kidney stones or upper ureteral stones, percutaneous nephrolithotripsy can be used; for middle and lower ureteral stones, ureteroscopic lithotripsy and lithotripsy are generally used, and ureteral stent tubes need to be left in place for 4-6 weeks to drain urine after the operation; for larger bladder stones, they can be treated by transurethral cystoscopy; for posterior ureteral stones, they can be pushed into the bladder according to the treatment of bladder stones; for anterior ureteral stones, the procedure can be repeated 3-5 times at an interval of 2 weeks. For anterior urethral stones, they can be extracted manually or with forceps.