 I am Dr. T. Manohar, Chief of Urology Services and Kidney Transplant Manipal Group of Hospitals. Basically, the kidney stone is the stone present within the renal system. It's a genitourinary system. They are different from the gallbladder stones. So definitely there is a confusion between these two. Gallbladder is something which is related, which secures the bile and it's present in between the liver and the stomach, so that the stone is different. Whereas the kidney stone is the one where in the urinary secreting organ, they are located in the flank. So these, when the stone forms in the kidney, then it is called as kidney stones. How it is formed? More importantly, how it is formed? When the body water level comes down and the electrolyte metabolic products increases like calcium, oxalate, phosphorus, then the stone forms and crystallizes within the kidney. When there is an alteration in the temperature, when there is a high temperature, when the person sweats a lot and when there is a low temperature, when exposed to the low temperature. So alteration in the altitude and temperature causes kidney stone formation, dietary habits, kidney stone formation. So the basic principle is you have to maintain the body balance to neutralize as the crystal formation within the body which is simply called as super-faturation. So super-faturation is the one factor which produces the stone formation. Is everybody exposed to the stone? Not really. The stone formation, especially it is a geographical variant is very common. Suppose in India, the northern part of India is very common because of the tropical region and nature there. Coming to the Karnataka, in Karnataka if you see the northern bed of Karnataka, the stones are very common and they are very large in size. Whereas it comes to the southern part of the Karnataka and also I have studied a Kaveri belt wherein the stone formation is very small and they tend to fall off into the urator and they produce severe symptoms. So there is a lot of variation in the formation of the kidney stone itself. The third thing is the patient, they wanted to know about what are the common symptoms. So what does it do? The stone when they are inside the kidney, most of them they are very asymptomatic. But then when they start falling down, especially during summer, when there is a dehydration element across in the kidney, they falls down into the urator. The urinary passage is very narrow. It's about 2 to 4 mm where it cannot propel the stone out and produces the blockage in the urinary passage and produces severe pain. What kind of symptoms one should look out for? It's simply explained as a deep stabbing pain comes intermittently. In other words, it's called a quality labor pain. So even the lady who has delivered a baby with a normal delivery, she will explain that this colleague is more severe than the labor pain. So that is the severity of the pain the one gets while during the urinary colic. So these are the symptoms which we need to look for. In case of advanced scenario, there will be some kind of blood in the urine which can produce the urinary tract infection and also severe persistent pain. So these are some of the symptoms which one needs to look out for. What are these incidents then? How many people are suffering from this disease? In India, it's almost nearly 12% of the population suffer from kidney stones. So it's simply said that everybody in one in five exposed to the kidney stone formation in their lifetime simply put forward. So what are the precautions one need to take for this kind of stone formation? So that is a very commonly asked question in our stone clinic. So prevention is one of the major, major factors and so many studies are going on around the world. But still it's one of the field and area wherein we are not completely understood by. But then 70% of the time these stone formation can be prevented, provided one follows the doctor's orders and advice after the procedure or for the stone formation. So as a golden standard of rule, one needs to keep themselves hydrated. He should pass 1.5 to 2 liters of urine. That amount of hydration has to be taken. So for example, in summer, you may have to drink 3 to 4 liters of water to eliminate 1.5 liters of urine. Whereas the same thing in winter, in December time, one has to drink even 1.5 liters is sufficient enough to throw out the 1.5 liters of urine. And also the dietary restrictions is one of the major event. It depending upon the stone formation, the dietary advice will be given. What are the stone formation then? What are the types of kidney stone formation? There are various types. It's not only single stone formation. There are various types of kidney stone formation like calcium, oxalate, phosphorus and uric acid. Depending upon these stones, we asadize, we do a metabolic study of the urine. 24 hours of urine examination will be done and then different dietary advice will be given to each of these patients. What is the treatment? So suppose if these stones are big and they produce the symptoms, what are the treatment options? Again the treatment options falls into medical expulsion therapy and the surgical. Medical expulsion therapy simply, it is if the stone is 5 mm and if it is in the lower down, 50% chances these stones will pass out. So these things can be decided when you are in consult with a doctor in a stone clinic and so that appropriate treatment and protocol can be given.