Bladder stones

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Female urinary tract

Male urinary tract

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Bladder stones

Alternative Names:

Stones - bladder; Urinary tract stones; Bladder calculi

Treatment:

Drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water or more per day, enough to increase urinary output, may help the stones pass.

Stones that are not excreted spontaneously may be removed by your health care provider using a cystoscope or a lithotripter (a small tube that passes through the urethra to the bladder). Some stones may need to be removed using open surgery.

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) may be an alternative to surgery. In this treatment, ultrasonic waves break up stones so that they may be expelled in the urine.

Medications are rarely used to try to dissolve the stones.

Underlying causes of bladder stones should be treated. Most commonly bladder stones are seen in conjunction with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or bladder outlet obstruction.

For patients with BPH and bladder stones, transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) can be performed with ESWL.

Expectations (prognosis):

Most bladder stones are expelled or can be removed without permanent damage to the bladder. They may recur if the underlying cause is not corrected.

If the stones are left untreated they may cause permanent damage to the bladder or kidneys.

Complications:

Recurrence of stones
Urinary tract infection, chronic or recurrent
Obstruction of the urethra
Reflux nephropathy
Acute bilateral obstructive uropathy
Chronic bladder dysfunction (incontinence or urinary retention)

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if symptoms indicate that you may have bladder stones.

Review Date: 5/3/2004
Reviewed By: Scott M. Gilbert, M.D., Department of Urology, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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