by Daniel Coffman

Created on: December 18, 2011   Last Updated: December 21, 2011

The symptoms are intense and frightening. Kidney stones are insidious, building over a long period of time without any symptoms, only making themselves known when the body tries to purge them.

A kidney stone, or renal lithiasis, is a hard mass made up of tiny crystals that separate from a person's urine. These crystals collect in the urinary tract, taking several weeks, months, or even years to form. A kidney stone can lay dormant in the kidneys for a long period of time, undetected. Normally, they are only detected when a patient receives an X-ray for another matter, or when the stone begins to move out of the kidneys.

Doctors do not know definitively what causes kidney stones to form, although patients who suffer from multiple cases can follow preventative measures based on the type of stone that tends to form in their kidneys. There are four main kinds of kidney stones, classified by the material of which they are made: calcium, cystine, struvite and uric.

Most common are calcium stones, affecting men in their 20's to 30's predominantly. These form when excess calcium in the urine combines with oxalate (present in certain foods such as spinach and in vitamin C supplements), phosphate, or carbonate, forming a stone. Those with intestinal disorders are more prone to calcium stones.

Cystine stones are common among those with cystinuria, a medical condition in which an amino acid named cysteine forms stones in the kidneys. Cystinuria is hereditary. In those without this condition, cysteine breaks down in the kidneys and returns to the bloodstream. Someone with this disorder finds the cysteine instead collecting and forming crystals, which then coalesce into stones.

Struvite stones are found mostly in women who suffer from urinary tract infections. Struvite is a natural compound found in the urine and can be extracted from waste water for use as a fertilizer due to a high phosphorous content. Struvite stones can grow very large, causing a painful and dangerous blockage in the urinary tract.

Lastly are uric acid stones. Uric acid is a waste product that develops from the breakdown of numerous kinds of foods. In most cases, uric acid is lost through urination. People suffering from gout of receiving chemotherapy, however, may not be able to properly process uric acid, leading to the formation of stones in the kidneys.

Each year, approximately 3 million people will receive treatment for kidney stones. These generally only cause pain when they attempt to leave the

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