Metabolic investigation of patients with urolithiasis in a specific region

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of the main metabolic alterations found in patients with recent diagnosis of urolithiasis in the West region of Paraná state, Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We made a retrospective study on 425 patients with evidence of recent formation of renal stones. Laboratory assessment consisted in 3 samples of 24-hour urine with dosing of calcium, uric acid, citrate, oxalate, sodium and creatinine. A urine culture was also made and qualitative cystinuria and urinary pH following 12-hour fasting and water restriction were evaluated. RESULTS: In 96.5 percent of patients a cause was detected for the urolithiasis. Metabolic alterations most frequently found were hypercalciuria (38.3 percent), hypocitraturia (29.6 percent) and hyperexcretion of uric acid (21.6 percent). Low urinary volume (17.9 percent), urinary tract infection (12.9 percent), hyperparathyroidism (3.3 percent), renal tubular acidosis (1.2 percent), cystinuria (0.9 percent) and anatomical alterations (12.7 percent) were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Hypercalciuria, hypocitraturia and hyperuricuria are the most frequent metabolic disorders in the population under study and these data are in accordance to the literature.