Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Nephrol. Sep 6, 2015; 4(4): 444-454
Published online Sep 6, 2015. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v4.i4.444
Pediatric primary urolithiasis: Symptoms, medical management and prevention strategies
Maria Goretti Moreira Guimarães Penido, Marcelo de Sousa Tavares
Maria Goretti Moreira Guimarães Penido, Marcelo de Sousa Tavares, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Nephrology Unit, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 30130100, Brazil
Maria Goretti Moreira Guimarães Penido, Marcelo de Sousa Tavares, Pediatric Nephrology Unit, Center of Nephrology, Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte Hospital, Belo Horizonte 30150320, Brazil
Author contributions: Moreira Guimarães Penido MG and de Sousa Tavares M contributed equally to the conception and design of the study, the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, and the drafting and critical revision of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors (Maria Goretti Moreira Guimarães Penido and Marcelo de Sousa Tavares) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Maria Goretti Moreira Guimarães Penido, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Nephrology Unit, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av Alfredo Balena 190 CEP, Belo Horizonte 30130100, Brazil. mariagorettipenido@yahoo.com.br
Telephone: +55-31-92991595 Fax: +55-31-32414466
Received: January 28, 2015
Peer-review started: January 29, 2015
First decision: April 10, 2015
Revised: June 30, 2015
Accepted: July 21, 2015
Article in press: July 23, 2015
Published online: September 6, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: In the past few decades pediatric urolithiasis has become more frequent. The reason for this increase is not completely clear. Although less frequent than adult stone disease, pediatric urolithiasis is also related to significant morbidity, particularly since stones tend to recur. Most children with idiopathic stone disease have an underlying metabolic abnormality. Identification of the metabolic abnormality allows for more specific prescription of non pharmacological and pharmacological interventions aimed at preventing recurrent stone formation. A better understanding of the causes of kidney stone disease will provide better strategies for stone prevention in children.