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Urinary Stones Essay

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Pathology of urinary stones:
Urolithiasis is a global problem spanning all geographic regions with an estimated annual incidence of 1%, prevalence of 3–5% and a lifetime risk of 15–25%. Once afflicted, urolithiasis tends to be recurrent in the majority of cases. Recurrence rates after the first stone episode are 14%, 35%, and 52% at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively. Approximately 50% of patients with previous urinary calculi have a recurrence within 10 years. In a recent study the recurrence rates are estimated at about 10% per year, totaling 50% over a 5–10 years period and 75% over 20 years (21,22).
Stones may form at any level in the UT, but most arise in the kidney. They are unilateral in about 80% of patients. The favored sites for their formation are within the renal calyces, pelvis and in the bladder. In the renal pelvis, they tend to remain small, …show more content…

Renal insufficiency and end-stage renal disease may result from persistent urinary obstruction. Long-term complications can include recurrent pyelonephritis and ureteric strictures (36).
It was reported that the presence or absence of symptoms does not significantly alter the presence and extent of urinary deposits in the urinary stone patients. In many cases, kidney stones develop without producing any symptoms. If they become lodged in the ureter, nevertheless, the symptoms can be very severe. Often, they vary depending on the location of the stone and then its progress (37).
In general, smaller stones are most hazardous, because they may pass into the ureters, producing colic as well as ureteral obstruction. Larger stones cannot enter the ureters and remain silent within the renal pelvis. Commonly, these larger stones first manifest themselves by hematuria. Stones also predispose to superimposed infection, both by their obstructive nature and by the trauma they produce

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