Mineralogical Composition of Urinary Stones and Their Frequency in Patients: Relationship to Gender and Age

Abstract

This investigation reports the mineralogy and possible pathological significance of urinary stones removed from patients in Fars province, Iran. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and polarizing microscope (PM) techniques were used to investigate the mineralogical compositions of urinary stones. The identified mineral components include whewellite, weddellite, hydroxyapatite, uricite and cystine. These techniques revealed that the whewellite and uricite were the most common mineral phases. Platy-like/monoclinic whewellite, prismatic/monoclinic uric acid and hexagonal cystine crystals were revealed by SEM. Biominerals (calcium carbonate) and quartz were also identified in PM images. Of the variables determining the type of precipitated minerals, the effects of pH on depositional conditions proved to be the most apparent parameter, as shown by occurrences and relationships among the studied minerals. Our results revealed the importance of detailed knowledge of mineralogical composition in assessing the effects of age and sex. The highest incidence of urinary stones was observed in the 40-60 age group. Calcium oxalate and uric acid stones are more frequent in men than women. Finally, the study concluded that knowledge of the mineralogical composition of urinary stones is important as it helps the scientific community to explain the chemistry and the etiology of the calculi in the urinary system.

Mineral identification of human kidney stones in South Brazil.

“…There is no consensus regarding the formation of kidney stones, but supersaturation and crystallization are the main controls (Sivaguru et al, 2019;Branco et al 2009;Moe 2006;Balaji and Mani Menon, 1997). Moreover, external risk factors such as diet, drinking habits, climate, concomitant diseases and medications, as well as genetic tendencies are important factors to kidney stones disease (Keshavarzi et al, 2016;Tiselius, 2011).…”

May a comprehensive mineralogical study of a jackstone calculus and some other human bladder stones unveil health and environmental implications?

“…Nowadays, several studies have been published [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and mostly conducted in order to contribute to the improvement of the clinical treatment of this painful pathology with impacting social and economic implications [13,14]. From an epidemiological point of view, in addition to the geographical location, other key factors to consider are: gender, race, age, familiarity, diet (included drinking water quality), smoking, climate, occupation and physical activity [15][16][17][18]. It is almost certain that most of the people suffering from this disease are white, males, between 40 and 50 years old, observing diets rich in animal proteins, sedentary and living in warm and humid regions [15,19].…”

“…From an epidemiological point of view, in addition to the geographical location, other key factors to consider are: gender, race, age, familiarity, diet (included drinking water quality), smoking, climate, occupation and physical activity [15][16][17][18]. It is almost certain that most of the people suffering from this disease are white, males, between 40 and 50 years old, observing diets rich in animal proteins, sedentary and living in warm and humid regions [15,19]. Within this frame, Italian population seems to be particularly predisposed to such forms of urolithiasis (up to 9% of the population reports cases), as evidenced by an estimated incidence of 100k new cases per year stimulating the scientific community to always proceed to investigations taking into account the aforementioned key factors [20].…”

A Simple Method to Type the Urinary Stones

“…2,3 Urinary stone formation is one of the most prevalent urologic diseases in Asia ranging from 1-5%. 4,5 Urinary stone analysis is carried out by different methods; such as chemical analysis, [6][7][8] thermo gravimetry, 9 polarization microscopy, 10 scanning electron microscopy (SEM), 10 powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), [10][11][12] spectroscopy, [12][13][14] and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). 15,16 The chemical analysis is commonly known as wet chemical method and is one of the most widely used approaches for stone analysis.…”