Urinary stone analysis

Abstract

The main urinary stone components as well as drug-induced stones are presented. The morphology of stones is described. The frequency of stone components as main component, the frequencies of occurrence of stone components, and the frequency of different combinations of components (stone types) are given. The importance and the forms of texture types and the core-shell relations are represented. The purposes and problems of stone analysis are discussed. The methods of stone analysis polarization microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy are described, while the benefits and disadvantages of these methods are evaluated. The results of ring trials show that the X-ray diffraction method is the best method with regard to correctness. A combination of two or three methods including X-ray diffraction is recommendable. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.