How to treat kidney stones

Stone disease is one of the common diseases of the urinary system and is mainly classified into kidney stones, ureteral stones, bladder stones, and urethral stones. There are various treatment methods for stones, which must be selected based on the stone's size, location, composition, and the patient's overall health condition. Treatments for stones can generally be divided into two major categories: non-surgical therapy and surgical therapy.

Non-surgical therapies mainly include pharmacological dissolution, medical expulsion therapy, and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. Pharmacological dissolution involves using medications such as Uralyt to dissolve specific types of stones. Medical expulsion therapy helps expel stones smaller than 0.6 cm in diameter by increasing water intake, combined with stone-expelling preparations and medications that relax smooth muscles. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is suitable for stones smaller than 2 cm and works by using high-energy physical shock waves to break the stones into smaller particles that can be excreted from the body.

Surgical treatments include extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, which is suitable for kidney stones and upper ureteral stones with diameters smaller than 2 cm. This method uses shock waves generated outside the body and focuses them on the stones inside the body, breaking them into smaller particles that are then excreted in the urine. Endoscopic procedures, including ureteroscopic lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy, are suitable for large or complex stones. These procedures involve inserting an endoscope directly into the body to break up stones using lasers, ultrasound, or other techniques.