Efficacy of Standard Diet Therapy for Patients with Urolithiasis / 대한비뇨기과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine the effectiveness of standard diet therapy as a preventive measure against urinary stone recurrence, we compared the metabolic parameters before and after diet recommendation in the patients with urolithiasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 40 stone formers participated in this study and none of them had other metabolic disorders. The dietary recommendations for them included the following large amounts of water and fruit juice, and restriction of animal protein, salt and oxalate-rich foods. Simplified metabolic evaluations were performed before and after the dietary therapy and compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and McNemar's test. The urinary volume and creatinine differences between the two tests were also considered for determining the patients' compliance and appropriate 24-hour urine collection. RESULTS: There was no significant change in the patients blood chemistry before and after the diet therapy. Among the urinary parameters, the excretion of citrate (p=0.005) was significantly increased, but the rest of the parameters remained unchanged. With respect to occurrence of urinary metabolic abnormalities, only the frequency of hypocitraturia showed a statistically significant decrease after diet therapy (p=0.039). The results concerning the changes in the urinary volume and creatinine level showed no difference before and after the therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The standard diet therapy applied to the patients with urolithiasis showed a favorable effect on the excretion of urinary citrate, which is an important protective factor against stone formation. However, we could not found any significant changes in the other urinary lithogenic parameters during this short-term evaluation.