Kidney stones, one of the most painful urological conditions, are one of the frequent problems for which patients report to specialized health institutions.
"Calculosis of the urinary tract is one of the most common diseases of the urinary system and about 1.400 new patients per million inhabitants appear annually," says Dr. Goran Savić, urologist at the Zvedar Clinical and Hospital Center in Belgrade. Visiting on RTSexplained why kidney stones form, how to treat them and how to prevent them from forming.
"This number is even more important when it is known that from this number, another 50 percent of people will have the clinical picture of urinary tract calculus again in the future," notes the urologist.
Kidney stones occur when the body creates a small amount of urine supersaturated with calcium salts, oxalates, and uric acid salts. So that is the key to how to prevent this condition, points out Dr. Savić.
"So, we have to take in more than two thousand milliliters of liquid per day. Between two and three liters, the best water. This will create diluted urine. We must avoid foods rich in salt," advises the urologist.
Also, it is very important to have an even intake of fluids during the day and it is important not to allow dehydration because this leads to increased crystallization of urine, which is the core of stone formation.
"The existence of a kidney stone is diagnosed mainly due to severe pain, but it also happens that it is discovered quite accidentally during routine ultrasound or X-ray examinations. These are mostly stones that don't move, however, the moment they start moving or when they leave the kidney, when the stone leaves the kidney and enters the ureter, which is otherwise narrow, there is an obstruction in the flow of urine. This obstruction creates an expansion of the renal capsule and causes one of the strongest pains known to medicine, the so-called renal attack or renal colic," explains Dr. Goran Savić.
Whether the patient will be proposed to break up the stone before that depends on the assessment of the size and hardness of the stone and must be adapted to the anatomy of each patient. There are invasive and non-invasive therapies for kidney stones.
"Non-invasive methods include the method of extracorporeal stone breaking, which is done without anesthesia, while invasive methods are dominated by endoscopic methods that use different sources of energy - laser, ultrasonic ballistic energy. In the end, in the least number of cases, open or laparoscopic operations are necessary, above all in patients who have some congenital anatomical anomalies of the urinary system that lead to stone formation," says the urologist.
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