Interesting Facts About Kidney Stones

• Louis C. Herring Laboratory has analyzed over 4 million calculi, more than all other stone laboratories in the United States combined.

• The largest known kidney stone weighed 1.36 kilograms.The smallest kidney stones are microscopic crystals; it is possible to analyze stones weighing less than 0.1 mg.

• Kidney stones come in virtually any color; but most are yellow to brown.

• The shape and size of the stone may tell something about how it was formed.

• Most stones are formed and excreted singly.

• Hippocrates (470/460 B.C.-380/360 B.C.) makes reference to kidney stones in the Hippocratic Oath as follows: "I will not cut persons labouring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work.

• Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, lost the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 due wholly or in part from impaired kidney function resulting from kidney stone formation.

• To date over 200 components have been found in calculi;