Analysis of urinary calculi in Mauritius

Abstract

Urinary calculi are often small and can be composed of many different constituents. The highly variable composition has led to the development of different chemical and physical methods for calculi analysis. In Mauritius, urinary calculi are routinely analysed for cations and anions using qualitative wet chemical spot tests as outlined in standard textbooks of clinical chemistry. However these procedures have been found not to be very accurate and reliable. The present study reports a comparative study of analysis of urinary calculi obtained after surgery from patients in Mauritius using wet chemical tests, spectrophotoscopic and analytical methods. Our results show that the spectrophotoscopic and analytical techniques are more sensitive and reliable for renal stone composition. Based on these findings we propose that in addition to routine chemical tests, analysts should also consider using spectrophotoscopic and analytical techniques for further characterisation of the different constituents of renal stones.

Keywords : Stone analysis, urinary calculi, wet chemical tests, spectrophotometry, calcium, oxalate, phosphate.