What exactly are kidney stones?
Kidney stones are hard objects made of a solid crystalline material imbedded in proteins usually present in urine. Most stones form on the interior surfaces of the kidney at the site where the final urine leaves the kidney tissue and enters the hollow collecting system that will take it down to the bladder. Because they form on the kidney surface, stones are often without symptoms and are found by x-ray undertaken to determine unexplained blood in the urine. Though anchored to the kidney, these hard objects can cause local injury and bleeding that doctors detect with routine urinalysis. When a stone breaks loose from the place where it is formed, it falls into the urine collecting system and may attempt to pass through the bladder. Small stones, less than 5.0 mm in size, usually pass through. Those above 6.0 mm usually do not. Either way, a stone that attempts to pass can produce extreme pain, bleeding, and obstruction of the kidney from which it is passing. The pain is what most often
