Preventing Kidney Stone Recurrence
Video Transcript
Hello everyone.
My name is David Tzou from the University of Arizona.
And today we’re gonna be talking about how long
before my next attack kidney stone patients often ask us,
you know, I’ve been through this horrible, horrible pain.
I never really want to go through that again.
But how long before my next one comes about?
And I think if you look through the literature, a number
that gets referenced a lot within urology is
50% within five years.
And if you look at the studies closely,
those are probably a little bit inflated numbers.
They’re probably not quite that high.
Those are smaller studies, older studies.
The more recent studies, looking at a larger number
of patients, it’s probably closer to about 30 to 40%,
probably closer to 10 years.
But again, that’s not to, you know, minimize how painful
and disruptive these, these kidney stones can be.
So, it all points to trying to work on prevention
and making sure that we’re minimizing the chances
of people getting a recurrent kidney stone
hopefully for as long a period as possible.
Summary
In this video, Dr. David Tzou from the University of Arizona discusses stone recurrence and how likely patients are to experience another kidney stone after their first episode. While older studies often cited a 50% recurrence rate within five years, Dr. Tzou explains that newer, larger studies suggest the risk is likely lower—around 30–40% over ten years. Even with these updated estimates, recurring stones remain a significant concern due to the severe pain and disruption they cause. Dr. Tzou emphasizes that these risks highlight the importance of kidney stone prevention, including lifestyle changes, medical evaluation, and long-term management strategies. By focusing on prevention early, patients can reduce their chances of recurrence and extend the time between stone episodes as much as possible.