Treatments to improve your quality of life

You’ll need to complete some diagnostic tests before you come to the Metabolic Stone Clinic. Our specialists will review your test results in advance. We discuss your results and possible treatments with you at your appointment.

Our most common diagnostic tests include:

• 24-hour urine collection: You will collect your urine for 24 hours. This is a state-of-the-art diagnostic test for identifying potential risk factors for kidney stone formation. This test is done prior to your visit with the UW Health Metabolic Stone Clinic.

• Diet assessment: A registered dietitian nutritionist with specialized training in medical nutrition therapy for kidney stones will review your diet to see if you have any dietary habits that may explain your risk for stone formation.

  • Print our diet record (pdf) so you can track your food and beverage intake for three to four days.

• Blood tests: Sometimes certain blood tests are ordered in an effort to identify underlying conditions that may increase your stone risk.

Your doctor also might order other diagnostic tests such as:

• CT scan

• Kidney, ureter or bladder X-ray

• Intravenous pyelogram

• Ultrasound

Your treatment depends on the makeup of your prior stones and on risk factors for future stones that are identified in your urine and/or diet. We use your urine biochemistry, blood chemistry, diet history, and other health information to create a plan just for you.

Treatments may include:

• Nutrition therapy (specific changes to your diet that address your individual stone risk factors)

• Using specific medications, also known as Pharmacologic therapy (these medications address your stone risk factors) 

• Observation

• Surgery, such as:

  • Laser lithotripsy

  • Percutaneous nephrolithotomy

  • Shockwave lithotripsy

  • Ureteroscopy 

To monitor your condition, you might need to complete a 24-hour urine collection every few months or once a year. The Metabolic Stone Clinic team will use the results to check how well nutritional and medication treatments are working. Changes to medications or to your diet may be made if new risk factors appear.