Painful Precipitates - Kidney Stones

Hi, let's talk about kidney stone. Each year, more than a million people in the United States are hospitalized because of very painful kidney stone attacks. Kidney stone is a hard mass developed from crystals that separate from the urine and build up on the inner surfaces of the kidney. The formation of the stones is caused primarily by precipitation of calcium oxalate and phosphate ion. When the concentrations of these ions become large enough, the urine becomes supersaturated with respect to calcium oxalate and/or calcium phosphate and precipitates begin to form (70% to 80% of all kidney stones are made up of calcium oxalate and phosphate). If the crystals remain tiny enough, they can travel through the urinary tract and pass out of the body in the urine without being detected. Sometimes, however, they continue to grow, and can cause pain if they become stuck in the urinary tract. Kidney stones don’t look same at all. Their color depends on what substances are mixed with the inorganic precipitates (e.g., proteins or blood). Most are yellow or brown, but they can be tan, gold, or even black. Stones can be round, jagged, or even have branches. They vary in size, which like a golf ball.

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