1. What tests are done to diagnose kidney stones?

If your doctor suspects you have a kidney stone, you may have diagnostic tests and
procedures, such as:

 Blood testing. Blood tests may reveal too much calcium or uric acid in your blood. ...
 Urine testing. ...
 Imaging. ...
 Analysis of passed stones.

2. Do blood tests detect kidney stones?

Doctors typically diagnose kidney stones based on a physical exam, signs and symptoms

you're experiencing (such as blood in the urine and difficulty urinating, among others), and
imaging tests. ... ER doctors often order a CT scan for a suspected kidney stone because
the test helps them make a quick and accuratediagnosis.

3. Are all kidney stones visible on CT scan?

All kidney stones are visible on CT scans. ... A contrast medium (akin to a dye) is not
necessary to diagnosis kidney stones with CT and typically is not used in emergency settings.

4. How do I know when my kidney stone has passed?

Sometimes, the pain will travel downward into the genital

area. Stones that havenearly passed into the bladder may be associated with an intense urge to
urinate.Stone pain typically comes and goes. After an initial period of severe pain, you may feel
better for a few hours before developing another attack.

5. What are the early signs of kidney stones?

Here are eight signs and symptoms that you may have kidney stones.

 Pain in the back, belly, or side. ...

 Pain or burning during urination. ...
 Urgent need to go. ...
 Blood in the urine. ...
 Cloudy or smelly urine. ...
 Going a small amount at a time. ...
 Nausea and vomiting. ...
 Fever and chills

6. Can kidney stones be detected in urine test?

Urinalysis can show whether your urine has blood in it and minerals that can form kidney

stones. White blood cells and bacteria in the urine mean you may have a urinary tract
 infection. The blood test can show if you have high levels of certain minerals in your blood
that can lead to kidney stones.

7. How do I know if I have kidney stones?

At that point, you may experience these signs and symptoms:

1. Severe pain in the side and back, below the ribs.

2. Pain that radiates to the lower abdomen and groin.
3. Pain that comes in waves and fluctuates in intensity.
4. Pain on urination.
5. Pink, red or brown urine.
6. Cloudy or foul-smelling urine.
7. Nausea and vomiting.

8. Where is kidney stone pain located?

A kidney stone may not cause symptoms until it moves around within your kidneyor passes
into your ureter — the tube connecting the kidney and bladder. At that point, you may
experience these signs and symptoms: Severe pain in the side and back, below the
ribs. Pain that radiates to the lower abdomen and groin.

Ultrasound as good as CT for initial diagnosis of kidney stones : study

Gene Emery

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using the sound waves of an ultrasound to detect a painful kidney
stone is just as effective as the X-rays of a CT scan, and exposes patients to much less harmful
radiation, according to a new multicenter study.

“It’s actually quite surprising that ultrasound is just as good as CT scanning when you look at
patient outcomes,” said Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman of the University of California, San
Francisco, chief author of the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Charles D. Scales, Jr. of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, called it
“a really provocative study” adding, “it should make doctors and patients think about what we
do” when a kidney stone may be causing a patient’s pain.

“It doesn’t necessarily say patients should not get a CT scan,” said Scales, who was not
connected with the research, “but I think the main message is that an ultrasound is the best
place to start.”

Kidney stones account for nearly a million emergency room visits in the U.S. each year at a cost
of nearly a billion dollars. One in 11 Americans say they have had one.

For years, an abdominal CT scan has been the standard method for detecting stones because it
makes the stones easier to see than regular X-rays. But other calcium deposits in the body can
be mistaken for stones, leading to unnecessary treatment.
“The CT scan has become the standard of care without really any evidence to support it. So it
was initially difficult to get funding for this project because people said, ‘You can’t use
ultrasound. That’s crazy,’” Smith-Bindman told Reuters Health in an interview.

In the $9 million three-year study, 2,759 adult patients at 15 emergency departments who were
suspected of having a kidney stone were randomly assigned to ultrasound performed by an
emergency physician or a radiologist, or to a conventional CT scan.

Beyond finding kidney stones themselves, one reason doctors might be reluctant to give up CT
scanning for a suspected kidney stone is the fear that ultrasound might miss a serious problems,
such as appendicitis or a ballooning blood vessel, that a CT scan can pick up.

“So we came up with a list of bad things we didn’t want to miss,” said Smith-Bindman. “If
ultrasound missed these really important complications, that would be reason not to use it. Lo
and behold, the complications were absolutely the same across the groups. They were
infrequent - less than a half percent - and they occurred with equal prevalence” in each group.

Only 11 patients were found to have a high-risk diagnosis with complications - six where the
emergency room doctor performed ultrasound, three where a radiologist performed ultrasound
and two in the CT group, an insignificant difference among thousands of patients.

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