Kidney Stone Removal

Kidney stones are solid masses or crystals that form from substances (like minerals, acids and salts) in your kidneys. They can be as small as a grain of sand or — rarely — larger than a golf ball. Kidney stones are also called renal calculi or nephrolithiasis.

Depending on the size of your kidney stone (or stones), you may not even realize that you have one. Smaller stones can pass through your urinary tract in your pee with no symptoms. Large kidney stones can get trapped in your ureter (the tube that drains urine from your kidney down to your bladder). This can cause pee to back up and limit your kidney’s ability to filter waste from your body. It can also cause bleeding.

It can take as long as three weeks for kidney stones to pass on their own. Even some small stones can cause extreme pain as they go through your urinary tract and out of your body. You may need a provider to break up and remove a stone that can’t pass on its own.