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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the composition of kidney stones removed from human patients. Seventeen samples were collected after surgery (5 females and 12 males; age range 2 to 60 years). The samples were analyzed for composition by transmission Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The 17 analyzed samples of kidney stones comprised 29.4% calcium oxalate, 29.4% uric acid, 29.4% calcium oxalate (CaOx)-uric acid, 5.9% phosphate, and 5.9% calcium oxalate-phosphate stones. The results of the study indicated that transmission FT-IR spectroscopy could be used as an environmentally friendly technique for rapid screening of kidney stones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present paper was to study the spectrum of stone composition of upper urinary tract calculi by X-ray diffraction crystallography technique, in patients managed at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.Between 30 April 1998 and 31 March 2003, a total of 1050 urinary calculi (900 renal, 150 ureteric) were analyzed. The stone fragments were collected after extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, or retrieval by endoscopic (percutaneous nephrolithotomy, ureterorenoscopy), laparoscopic and various open surgical procedures. The structural analysis of the stones was done using X-ray diffraction crystallography.Four types of primary and three secondary X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained. The primary patterns were as follows. Pattern A, well organized crystalline structure; pattern B, moderately organized crystalline structure; pattern C, poorly organized crystalline structure; pattern D, very poorly organized crystalline structure. The three secondary patterns mainly highlighted the mixed variety of stones. These patterns were further analyzed and compared with standard X-ray diffraction (powder) photographs. Of the 1050 stones analyzed, 977 (93.04%) were calcium oxalate stones, out of which 80% were calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) and 20% were calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD). Fifteen were struvite (1.42%) and 19 were apatite (1.80%). Ten were uric acid stones (0.95%) and the remaining 29 (2.76%) were mixed stones (COM + COD and calcium oxalate + uric acid, calcium oxalate + calcium phosphate, and calcium phosphate + magnesium ammonium phosphate). A total of 89.98% of staghorn stones were made of oxalates (COM/+COD) and only 4.02% were struvite.Urinary stone disease in the Indian population is different from that in Western countries, with a larger percentage of patients having calcium oxalate stones, predominantly COM. Also, the majority of staghorn stones (89.98%) were made of oxalates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]