Nephrolithiasis (kidney stones, renal calculi) is the development of stones within the kidney that may then be passed through the ureters into the bladder and excreted with the urine. This process of stone passage may be painless if the stones are very small, or may cause significant pain (renal colic).
Nephrolithiasis is a common disorder affecting between 5-15% of Americans. Most stones seem to occur during the fourth and fifth decades of life in men and somewhat earlier in women
While kidney stones can cause significant pain during the acute episode, the risk of kidney failure is very small and occurs only with obstruction of both kidneys or the obstruction of a remaining kidney when one is not functioning or has been removed.
While the majority (80-90%) of stones eventually pass without intervention, the remaining stones require intervention known as lithotripsy or, rarely, surgical intervention to be removed.
This MediFocus Guide contains an extensive listing of citations and abstracts of recent journal articles that have been published about this condition in trustworthy medical journals. This is the same type of information that is available to physicians and other health care professionals. A partial selection of journal articles that are abstracted in this MediFocus Guide includes:
Should dietary calcium and protein be restricted in patients with nephrolithiasis?. Nutrition Reviews. 2000
Management of residual stones. Urologic Clinics of North America. 2000
Kidney stones as a manifestation of hypercalcemic disorders. Hyperparathyroidism and sarcoidosis. Urologic Clinics of North America. 2000
Nephrolithiasis with unusual initial symptoms. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics. 2000
Kidney stones. Harvard Mens Health Watch. 2000
New insights into causes and treatments of kidney stones. Hospital Practice (Office Edition). 2000
Pathogenesis of Dent's disease and related syndromes of X-linked nephrolithiasis. Kidney International. 2000
Update on dietary recommendations and medical treatment of renal stone disease. Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation. 2000
Metabolic evaluation and medical therapy for stone formation. Current Opinion in Urology. 1999
Outcomes of contemporary percutaneous nephrostolithotomy in morbidly obese patients. Journal of Urology. 1998
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