Abstract

Stone formation is a complex process, mainly because stone disease is a polygenic, multifactorial disorder that involves an interrelationship between the kidney, bone, and intestine. Although great progress has been made in recent years to delineate the exact processes that lead to the formation of renal calculi, there are many incompletely answered questions regarding pathogenesis of stone formation. There are distinct stone phenotypes and the cascade of events leading to kidney stone formation varies depending on this phenotype. Different mechanisms of stone formation have been described for numerous stone types and clinical situations. Herein, we reviewed the current knowledge about the basic pathophysiologic theories involved in the formation of different renal calculi.