Nephrolithiasis

"Acute renal colic due to kidney stones is probably the most excruciatingly painful event a person can endure. This painful event, which starts without warning, is often described as being worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery. Kidney stone disease, or nephrolithiasis, is a common disease that is estimated to produce medical costs of $2.1 billion per year in the United States. Renal colic affects approximately 1.2 million people each year and accounts for approximately 1% of all hospital admissions. The incidence of kidney stone disease has been increasing in the United States over recent years and it is now estimated that approximately 5% of American women and 12% of American men will be affected at some point in their lives. Since the majority (80%) of these stones are found to be calcium oxalate (CaOx), the research conducted over the past three to four decades has largely been focused on delineating the mechanism of formation of CaOx stones. Interestingly, a documented increase in the prevalence of calcium phosphate (CaP) stones in the kidney over the past two decades suggests an epidemiological shift and thus signifies a greater demand for focused research onto such CaP stone formation. Furthermore, the fact that most extraskeletal calcium deposits throughout the body are of CaP origin lends the belief that a better understanding of CaP deposition in the kidneys will compliment scientific research involving other forms of calcinosis. These other diseases associated with idiopathic extraskeletal calcifications are also common medical problems. Among them the most common diseases include vascular calcification, dental pulp stones, gall stones, salivary gland stones, testicular microliths, calcification in hemodialysis patients, calcific aortic stenosis, calcific tendonitis and arthritis. Lifethreatening calcification may occur after hemodialysis, in scleroderma, and in patients with sclerotic aortic valves. (Bidhan C. Bandyopadhyay- Calcium Phosphate Kidney Stone: Problems and Perspectives)."

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Last date updated on April, 2024