Although there are a number of literature on the chemical composition of urinary stones, problems of the urolithiasis, particularly concerning [the pathogenesis of stone formation, are yet to be solved. This paper is to study the chemical composition of urinary stones from Korean patients with urolithiasis. The stones were analyzed by the spectroscopic method (infrared absorption spectra and X-ray diffraction). All of the 68 cases who were subjected to this study had been admitted to the Department of Urology, Seoul National University Hospital. The observed results are as follows: 1) In the cases of oxalate stones, only the monohydrates were found in this study. This finding is inconsistent with the reports from the other countries, that is, in most other studies, dihydrates and mixed stones were reported much more frequently. 2) In the cases with urate stones, there was no case with hydrate or salt forms. Only the pure crystalline forms of uric acid stone were found in this study. 3) In this series, not a single case of cystine or xanthine stone was found 4) Qualitative analysis of phosphate and oxalate stones were carried out by the infrared absorption spectra, and in some degree quantitative analysis were possible by the intensity of absorption spectra. 5) X-ray diffraction method, by which we analyzed the chemical composition and the crystal types, seemed to be the better method in studying the urinary stones in connection with the pathogenesis of urolitbiasis Differences in the chemical composition and crystalline forms of urinary calculi in this study from the report of the other countries suggest that geographic, racial and dietary factors may play important roles in the pathogenesis of urolithiasis.
Absorption ; Crystallins ; Cystine ; Humans ; Seoul ; Spectrum Analysis ; Uric Acid ; Urinary Calculi* ; Urolithiasis ; Urology ; X-Ray Diffraction ; Xanthine