Chemical composition of urinary stone's nuclei and its pathogenetic significance in stone disease initiation

ABSTRACT

To verify whether the anatomical site of urinary stones or the age of affected patients held a stronger association with the unique ammonium acid urate constituent of endemic urolithiasis, analysis of the nuclei of 146 stones from Northern Iraq was conducted. The age, sex and site where the stone was recovered from was known in each case. The results revealed that the ammonium acid urate content was a feature of stones recovered from patients aged 15 years or younger; their site in the urinary tract proved immaterial. The formation of ammonium acid urate was suggested to result from a bout of gastro-enteritis accompanied by fasting from, e.g., vomiting. Confinement to breast feeding was considered contributory to the formation of ammonium acid urates