Kidney stones: Causes and Risk Factors

that are formed along the course of the urinary tract. These "pebbles" derive from the precipitation and aggregation of certain substances normally present in the urine. Once formed, with the passage of time, the stones tend to pass from the kidney to the lower urinary tract, then to the ureter, from here to the bladder and finally into the urethra to be expelled to the outside during urination.

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Often, their presence is related to an incongruous diet which is necessarily associated with an underlying genetic predisposition and low fluid intake. The formation of kidney stones is also favored by some inflammatory processes.

Especially if small in size, kidney stones can be asymptomatic and are eliminated spontaneously without causing any disturbance to the patient. In many cases, however, kidney stones end up causing sharp and violent pain in the lower back. This pain is characteristic of kidney stones and due to its peculiarities and associated symptoms it falls within the more general framework of the so-called "renal colic".