Can stone grow this much?

[WonderWomanof3]

In June, I had an abdominal CT which turned up a 5 mm kidney stone. No one told me to do anything about it. An ultrasound in October (to try and figure out some ongoing pain issues) turned up a 1.3 cm stone in the same kidney. So my question is whether or not a stone can grow that fast in four months or is it possible that one of the imaging studies was/is wrong?

Also, if this stone is 1.3 cm, can this be left alone or should it be removed? I don't like the sounds of having stones travel through my body, or worse, having stents put in to facilitate the stones moving.

I do have an appointment next week with a urologist but figured I would get the advice of real people who have been through this before.

Thanks

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Understand your predicament.Therapy depends on the location and size of the stone. Small stones less than 5 mm are let to pass naturally, with medications support and by drinking plenty of oral fluids. For stones greater than 5mm upto 2cm options like Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) are used to break up the stone. Good Luck.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[WonderWomanof3]

I had my appointment and yes, the doctor stated that the stone can grow that quickly. In fact, when they grow that fast, they could become a staghorn stone where "antlers" grow into the kidney and do damage.

I have lithotripsy scheduled for January. I chose to put it off until after the holidays and the doctor thought that was OK.

All my sympathy to those who are dealing with kidney stone pain.