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What Size Do Kidney Stones Range To?

Kidney stones can cause excruciating pain and intense discomfort that has been compared by some to labor and delivery of a child. While pain killers can help alleviate the pain temporarily, the only way to make it stop is to remove the stone from the body. This may be accomplished naturally by passing the stone through the urine stream, but if the stone is too large it may have to be removed surgically.

  1. Features

    • It can be difficult to accurately diagnose kidney stones because the symptoms often can be attributed to other causes. Depending on the location of the kidney stone in the body, it may cause no preliminary symptoms. But when the stone moves into the urinary tract, it can block the flow of urine from the kidney to the bladder and result in cramps, nausea, disorientation, piercing aches and pains, fever, chills and blood in the urine, among other symptoms.

    Effects

    • The size of the kidney stone does not always correspond to the amount of pain involved. The shape of the stone has much to do with creating pain in the patient. A small stone with sharp or protruding edges can produce greater discomfort than a larger, smoother stone.

    Size

    • Up to 3 percent of adult Americans will develop kidney stones during their lifetime. Kidney stones account for more than 400,000 hospitalizations each year, roughly 10 percent of all urological hospital admittances.

    Considerations

    • No one really knows what causes kidney stones. The tendency toward developing kidney stones appears to have a genetic link; environment, diet, sex and history of urinary infection may also play a role. American Indians, people of African descent and certain other ethnic groups are rarely afflicted with kidney stones, while residents of the Southeastern and Southwestern United States appear to be at a higher risk than their northern neighbors.

    Identification

    • Kidney stones range widely in size. Some stones may be as tiny as a grain of sand, but frequently they are much larger. Pearl-size kidney stones are not uncommon, and stones as large as a golf ball have been recorded. Kidney stones are typically brown to yellow in color and may have a smooth or jagged surface area.

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