THE CORRELATIION BETWEEN STONE DENSIITY ON NON-- CONTRAST SPIIRAL CT AND THE STONE APPEARANCE ON PLAIIN X--RAY OF THE URIINARY TRACT (PUT/KUB) TO IITS CHEMIICAL COMPOSIITIION AS DETECTED BY IINFRA--RED SPECTROSCOPY (IIRS)

Abstract

CONCLUSION he identification of the components within urinary stones provides useful information in order to understand the cause of their formation and the prevention of their recurrence. These data are of interest for the clinical guideline in the prophylaxis, therapy and metaphylaxis of urolithiasis. Among the methods available for urinary stone analysis, chemical analysis has been traditionally used most widely due to its ease and low cost even if this technique is time consuming and necessitates large stone samples. The various hydration degrees cannot be determined through chemical methods. chemical methods cannot distinguish between similar crystalline entities, e.g. Calcium oxalate monohydrate vs Calcium oxalate dihydrate, Apatite vs. Brushite, etc. FTIR can accurately determine the various hydration degrees of the urinary stones which help in understanding the genesis of stone formation. An example can be found in calcium phosphates, which constitute a very heterogeneous group with multiple etiology including infections (in the case of carbonated calcium phosphate and whitlockite), hypercalciuric mechanism (in the case of brushite and octacalcium phosphate), and T

disorders related to tubular acidification function (in the case of carbonate apatite).