What Are Kidney Stones?

Kidney stones are solid crystal stones that form in the kidney. Kidney stones may be passed through the urine without any pain or symptoms. However, larger kidney stones can cause pain, fever, nausea, and blood in the urine.

For more severe cases of kidney stones, surgery may be needed to remove the stones. Other methods of managing the kidney stones include taking medications to break the stones down into smaller sizes or to prevent them. Common drug classes used to treat kidney stones are potassium salt / calculi dissolution agent combinations, potassium salts, urease inhibitors, and phosphate supplements.