Kidney Stones Causes

Although the precise causes of kidney stones are not fully understood, kidney stones are crystals that "fall out" of the solution that is your urine. These collections of crystals can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a marble. Some are smooth, but most are jagged, which makes them harder to pass. The pain you experience from kidney stones happens when you have a blockage and pressure in the renal (kidney) system. A stone may stay in the kidney or break loose and travel down the urinary tract. This movement is also painful.



The 4 major types of kidney stones are defined by their make-up. An evaluation of the actual stone, along with 24-hour urine collections and blood tests, are helpful in identifying the causes of stone formation. Identifying the cause will help your doctor decide what specific therapy will decrease further attacks of kidney stones.

The most common type is a calcium stone (75%).

Too much calcium in the urine combines with other waste products to form stones.

This can result from increased absorption of calcium from the gut, hyperparathyroidism, sarcoidosis, renal tubular acidosis, or imbalances in the amounts of calcium, oxalic acid, citrate, and magnesium in the urine.

Struvite stones (magnesium ammonium phosphate) (15%) may form after an infection in the urinary system.

Certain types of bacteria seen in chronic urinary tract infections split urea into ammonium in your urine. The ammonium then combines with phosphate and magnesium to form the stones.

Treatment of this type of infection must be done at the same time as removal of the stone.

Uric acid stones (6%) are associated with a high purine intake and acidic urine.

Meats, fish, gravies, legumes, and meat extracts create high amounts of purine when digested.

Gout is a disease associated with this type of stone.

People with cancer may develop this type of stone because of the rapid cell turnover.

Cystine stones (2%) are the least common type and develop when a metabolic defect keeps the kidneys from reabsorbing several compounds. This results in too much cystine in the urine that easily "falls out" of solution and forms stones.

Other types of stones are a direct result of a medication prescribed for other reasons. The most common of these is an indinavir stone. Indinavir (Crixivan) is used to treat people with the HIV infection. This stone is made up of the medication itself falling out of solution.

Sharp, severe pain from kidney stones brings more than 450,000 people to emergency departments every year. Kidney stones are an age-old problem. Egyptian mummies more than 7,000 years old have been found with evidence of kidney stones.

Kidney stones are a common problem that will affect 5-15% of people at some time during their lives.

Annually, this problem affects 0.2% of people in the United States.

Men tend to have kidney stones 3 times more often than women.

People aged 20-60 years more frequently have kidney stones, and a greater number of people who are sedentary will have them than people who are active.

Kidney stones are relatively uncommon in children younger than 16 years. If your child has a kidney stone, further investigation into possible metabolic disorders, urological problems, or infection should be done.

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