ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There are many causes of kidney stones, but there is no clear answer to whether kidney anatomy and morphology studies affect the generation of stones. OBJECTIVE: To reconstruct a three-dimensional model of the kidney and to measure and analyze anatomical data related to the etiology of kidney stones. METHODS: Thirty patients with kidney stones treated at Liangxiang Hospital in Fangshan District, Beijing from December 2017 to February 2019 were randomly selected as the study group, and the control group was 30 normal people who underwent physical examination during the same period. After collecting renal CT scan data from two groups of patients, the three-dimensional model of the kidney was reconstructed by image segmentation and fusion using Mimics 16.0. The length and width of the kidney, the length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, the distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, the distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and the distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process. Multi-parameter Logistic regression analysis was performed on kidney anatomy parameters of patients with kidney stones. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were no significant differences in the three-dimensional digital measurement results between patients with kidney stones and healthy people in the following aspects: the length and width of the kidney, length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process (P > 0.05). Multi-parameter Logistic regression analysis results of the kidney of patients with kidney stones indicated that there was no significant correlation among the length and width of the kidney, length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process (P > 0.05). These findings reveal that the difference in kidney morphology has nothing to do with the formation of stones.