Kidney Stone Analysis Price in Pakistan: Rs 2,415 at Marham Lab

If you have passed a stone and thrown it away, you have lost the single most useful piece of information about your own kidneys.

NIDDK states that treatment for kidney stones usually depends on their size, location, and what they are made of. It also says you are more likely to develop kidney stones again if you have had them once.

Put those two sentences together and the case for analysis makes itself. There will probably be a next stone, and what you change to prevent it depends on which mineral this one was.

So if you are passing a stone: strain your urine, catch it, keep it dry in a clean container, take it to the lab.

NIDDK states you probably have one of four main types.

Calcium stones. NIDDK says these, including calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate stones, are the most common types, and that calcium oxalate stones are more common than calcium phosphate. It then corrects the belief almost every stone patient arrives with: calcium from food does not increase your chance of having calcium oxalate stones. It explains that normally extra calcium not used by bones and muscles goes to the kidneys and is flushed out in urine, and when that does not happen the calcium stays and joins other waste products to form a stone.

Cutting out milk and dahi is the usual self-treatment here, and NIDDK does not support it. Discuss diet with your doctor rather than removing calcium on your own.

Uric acid stones. NIDDK says a uric acid stone may form when your urine contains too much acid, and that eating a lot of fish, shellfish and meat, especially organ meat, may increase uric acid in urine. Organ meat is worth naming for Pakistani diets, since kaleji, gurda and maghaz appear often.

Struvite stones. NIDDK says these may form after you have a urinary tract infection, and that they can develop suddenly and become large quickly. A struvite stone therefore sends you back to the infection question. See our [urine culture page](/labs/tests/urine-culture-test-price).

Cystine stones. NIDDK says these result from cystinuria, a disorder passed down through families, which causes the amino acid cystine to leak through your kidneys into the urine. A cystine stone is a reason to mention family history to your doctor.

NIDDK states that men are more likely to develop kidney stones than women, that a family history raises your risk, and that you are also more likely to develop them again having had them once. It adds you may be more likely to develop a stone if you do not drink enough liquids.

Conditions it lists include a blockage of the urinary tract, chronic inflammation of the bowel, cystic kidney diseases, cystinuria, digestive problems or a history of gastrointestinal surgery, gout, hypercalciuria which it calls the most common condition found in people who form calcium stones, hyperoxaluria, hyperparathyroidism, hyperuricosuria, obesity, repeated UTIs, and renal tubular acidosis.

Medicines it names, taken over a long period: diuretics, calcium-based antacids, indinavir, and topiramate.

NIDDK reports that about 11 percent of men and 6 percent of women in the United States have kidney stones at least once during their lifetime, and that stones are common and on the rise.

On severity it is reassuring and firm at once. Kidney stones rarely cause permanent damage if treated by a health care professional, and complications are rare if you seek treatment before problems occur. Untreated, it says, stones can cause blood in the urine, severe pain, urinary tract infections including kidney infections, and loss of kidney function.

It also says that if you have symptoms of kidney stones, including severe pain or bleeding, seek care right away.

NIDDK explains that urine tests can show whether your urine contains high levels of the minerals that form stones, and that urine and blood tests can also help find out what type of stone you have. Urinalysis can show blood in the urine and stone-forming minerals, and white blood cells and bacteria in the urine mean you may have a urinary tract infection. Blood tests can show high levels of certain minerals that lead to stones.

Imaging finds the stone rather than naming it. NIDDK describes abdominal x-ray, noting not all stones are visible on abdominal x-ray, and CT, which can show the size and location of a stone, whether it is blocking the urinary tract, and conditions that may have caused it.