Overview

Treatments to improve your quality of life

Our multidisciplinary Metabolic Stone Clinic combines the expertise of doctors in nephrology, nutrition and urology. We monitor your health and help you make lifestyle changes to reduce kidney stones.

Conditions and treatments

Advanced diagnosis, prevention and treatments

At UW Health, we evaluate and treat kidney stones and the conditions that cause them to form. There are many kinds of kidney stones. Stones can be made of any of the following components and are frequently mixtures of these different compounds. 

Types of kidney stones include:

  • Calcium oxalate

  • Calcium phosphate

  • Cystine

  • Medication induced stones

  • Struvite

  • Uric acid

Our approach

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.

Programs and research

Improving care through research

Our doctors and scientists are always researching ways to increase the effectiveness of prevention therapies, enhance outcomes from stone removal surgeries, and improve your quality of life while you deal with kidney stones. Learn more

Meet our team

Kidney stone experts by your side

The Metabolic Stone Clinic team at UW Health includes experts in nephrology, nutrition and urology who are nationally and internationally recognized for their expertise in stone disease.

Our providers

Locations

How to find us

We offer specialized metabolic stone disease care at UW Health clinics in Madison.

Patient resources

More information for you

The kidney stone program at UW Health in Madison, Wis., was founded in 1995 to serve patients with kidney stones and offers state-of-the-art therapy and prevention through clinical and electronic services.