How are cystine stones diagnosed?

How are cystine stones diagnosed?

Cystine stones can be diagnosed in several ways, including:

• Identifying symptoms of kidney stones. In cases where a stone has not left the body, the symptoms can help your healthcare provider determine if more testing is needed. Cystine stones can be larger than other types of kidney stones, causing them to get stuck in the urinary tract. Your healthcare provider may need to use imaging tests (ultrasounds and CT scans) as well as urine tests to diagnosis cystine stones.
• Discussing a family history of cystine stones. Your family history can be very helpful when diagnosing cystine stones because cystinuria is an inherited condition.
• Taking a stone in for testing. If you can collect a stone that has passed out of the body with your urine, it can be brought into the lab to be analyzed. Once the chemical structure of the stone is identified, your healthcare provider can better treat it.