Phytotherapy and Herbal Medicines for Kidney Stones

Abstract

Background: Kidney stones are one of the oldest known and common diseases in the urinary tract with a prevalence that varies from 1% to 20%. Many phytotherapic and herbal medicines for kidney stones have been described for their treatment and prevention. Objective: The objective of this study is to perform a comprehensive review of several phytotherapic and herbal medicines published including clinical and animal studies. Results: Phytotherapy may influence the risk of recurrence in calcium oxalate and uric acid stones. The most solid evidence suggest that Phyllanthus niruri is one of the most studied components that appear to interfere with the calcium oxalate crystallization, reduced hyperoxaluria and hiperuricosuria and increased shock wave lithotripsy efficacy due to reduced crystallization without significant adverse effects, also Theobromine have shown to reduce the crystallization of uric acid in patients and appears to be a promising supplement to treat such stones. Conclusion: Many phytoterapic and herbal agents have been studies to treat and present urolithiasis, most of them only with studies of small number of patients or in animal models. Further randomized clinical trials are needed to evaluate the effect of these agents in kidney stones.