Bladder stones

DEFINITION

Bladder stones are hard masses of minerals in your bladder. Bladder stones develop when urine in your bladder becomes concentrated, causing minerals in your urine to crystallize. Concentrated, stagnant urine is often the result of not being able to completely empty your bladder.

Bladder stones don’t always cause signs or symptoms and may be discovered during tests for other problems. When symptoms do occur, they can range from abdominal pain to blood in your urine.

Small bladder stones sometimes pass on their own, but you may need to have others removed by your doctor. Left untreated, bladder stones can cause infections and other complications.

CAUSES

Bladder stones generally begin when your bladder doesn’t empty completely. The urine that’s left in your bladder can form crystals that eventually become bladder stones. In most cases, an underlying condition affects your bladder’s ability to empty completely.

The most common conditions that cause bladder stones include:

• Prostate gland enlargement. An enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), can cause bladder stones in men. As the prostate enlarges, it can compress the urethra and interrupt urine flow, causing urine to remain in your bladder.
• Damaged nerves (neurogenic bladder). Normally, nerves carry messages from your brain to your bladder muscles, directing your bladder muscles to tighten or release. If these nerves are damaged — from a stroke, spinal cord injury or other health problem — your bladder may not empty completely.

Other conditions that can cause bladder stones include:

• Inflammation. Bladder stones can develop if your bladder becomes inflamed. Urinary tract infections and radiation therapy to your pelvic area can both cause bladder inflammation.
• Medical devices. Occasionally, bladder catheters — slender tubes inserted through the urethra to help urine drain from your bladder — can cause bladder stones. So can objects that accidentally migrate to your bladder, such as a contraceptive device or stent. Mineral crystals, which later become stones, tend to form on the surface of these devices.
• Kidney stones. Stones that form in your kidneys are not the same as bladder stones. They develop in different ways and often for different reasons. But small kidney stones occasionally travel down the ureters into your bladder and, if not expelled, can grow into bladder stones.

SYMPTOMS

Some people with bladder stones have no problems — even when their stones are large. But if a stone irritates the bladder wall or blocks the flow of urine, signs and symptoms can develop. These include:

• Lower abdominal pain
• In men, pain or discomfort in the penis
• Painful urination
• Frequent urination
• Difficulty urinating or interruption of urine flow
• Blood in your urine
• Cloudy or abnormally dark-colored urine