What are Bladder Stones?

Metropolitan Urological Specialists, serving Washington, Creve Couer, Florissant, and St. Louis, MO want to offer a couple of tips on identifying and treating bladder stones. Bladder stones develop whenever substances (like calcium oxalate) in the urine concentrate and coalesce into hard, solid lumps that lodge in the bladder. Often, several stones form at once. Generally, they're pretty small and are excreted in the urine without complications, but on occasion stones become trapped in the neck of the bladder and—as residues in the urine continue to accumulate—grow large enough to cause discomfort, urinary blockage, or infections, thus necessitating surgical intervention. Bladder stones almost exclusively impact middle-aged and older men, but, for unknown reasons, are becoming progressively more rare.

What Causes Bladder Stones?

Most commonly, stones come to be problematic whenever the neck of the bladder is hindered due to prostate growth, a benign growth (adenoma) inside the prostate, or unnatural contraction or stricture of the bladder neck. Stones often arise elsewhere in the urinary tract (such as the kidneys), or perhaps in the bladder itself. Hereditary factors may be involved.

Other causes include the long-term usage of a urinary catheter, chronic urinary tract infections, or a nerve injury that impairs bladder function.

Moderate, chronic dehydration concentrates the urine, which could promote stone formation.
A diet high in oxalic acid (found in rhubarb, leafy vegetables, and coffee) may lead to stones.
Weakened area of the bladder caused by a bulging pouch within the organ (called bladder diverticulum)

Damage to the nerves that carry signals to the bladder muscles from the brain (known as neurogenic bladder)

Symptoms of Bladder Stones

• Disruption of the urine stream, lack of ability to urinate except in specific positions, frequent urge to urinate but with only small amounts of urine passed
• Blood in the urine, often only apparent within the last few drops
• Dark urine
• Pain—sometimes severe—in the pelvic region, genitals, lower abdomen, or lower back
• Low-grade fever (under 102°F)

Bladder Stones Avoidance

• Drink no less than eight glasses of water a day.
• Get prompt treatment for urinary tract infections.
• Potassium citrate can increase urine levels of citrate, which is a substance that suppresses calcium stone formation.
• Avoid meat, eggs, and animal fats, as well as processed and fried foods.
• Dietary changes and treatment for any underlying condition may be helpful.

Bladder Stones Diagnosis

• A thorough medical record and physical examination (including a rectal exam) and lower abdominal check to look for bladder distention are performed.
• Urine samples are taken and analyzed (urinalysis).
• Stones can be found with x-rays or ultrasound.
• Bladder stones diagnosis may be confirmed with x-rays, ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) scan, cystoscopy (inspection of the inside of the bladder using a scope) and intravenous pyelogram (x-rays are taken after dye is used to highlight the urinary organs).

How to Deal with Bladder Stones

Your physician may prescribe narcotic analgesics to relieve pain and antibiotics to treat an infection.
Smaller stones can be removed with a cystoscope, a tube inserted through the urethra that allows the physician to view the stones. The scope can also be outfitted with a device that crushes the stones, after which the fragments are washed away.

Larger stones are treatable with extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, which aims focused bursts of sound waves that powderize the stones.

In rare occasions, very large stones may necessitate surgical removal (suprapubic lithotomy).
The root problem (such as prostate enlargement) causing stones to be caught in the bladder must be identified and treated to avoid recurrence.

For additional information about identifying and treating bladder stones, contact Metropolitan Urological Specialists in St. Louis, Missouri.