CALCIUM OXALATE CRYSTALLURIA

ELLIOT, JAMES S.
RABINOWITZ, ISRAEL N.
SILVERT, MARK

From the Urology Section, Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto
The Division of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California

Accepted for publication May 21, 1976.

Read at annual meeting of Western Section, American Urological Association, Coronado, California, February 22–26, 1976.

Journal of Urology 116(6):p 773-775, December 1976. | DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5347(17)59006-0

Calcium oxalate crystals were obtained from urine specimens submitted to a hospital laboratory. The incidence of crystalluria was 4.2 per cent or 42 times the maximum reported incidence of urinary calculi. In our opinion the crystalluria was real and not artifactual. The crystalline structure was determined by polarized light, x-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. Calcium oxalate occurs in several forms—the dihydrate as bipyramidal and dodecahedral prisms, the monohydrate as biconcave ovals, dumbbell shapes and intermediate forms.