Stone Morphology Research Articles

Developmental morphology of calcium oxalate foreign body stones in rats.

Calcium oxalate bladder stones were induced in male rats by implanting plastic foreign bodies and by adding ethylene glycol to their drinking water. The foreign body surface was first coated with cellular debris and some amorphous material. Encrustation with crystals of calcium oxalate started on the third day of implantation. Within 2 weeks the entire surface of a foreign body was covered with crystals and some noncrystalline material. Calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals consisted of platelike crystallites arranged in hemispherulitic or spherulitic habit. Calcium oxalate dihydrate crystals wee basically dipyramidal, a majority of them showing interpenetrant twinning. The stone grew by confluent crystal growth and crystal aggregation. A transformation of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals to calcium oxalate dihydrate also occurred. The matrix consisting of cellular debris and urinary macromolecules was universally distributed in the stone including the inside of crystal bodies.

Pigment gallstones of the common bile duct in infancy.

Ten infants of less than 6 months of age presented with cholestatic jaundice and gallstones. Jaundice occurred after a lag period, and sepsis was present in three children. Ultrasound examination showed dilatation of intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts in eight patients and detected cholelithiasis in three. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and/or surgery allowed separation of the patients into two groups: (i) six children with lithiasis in the distal common bile duct, and (ii) four children with lithiasis associated with bile duct perforation at the junction between the cystic and common bile ducts with gallstones probably secondary to bile stasis and infection. Surgical treatment was confined to removal of calculi and drainage in eight children; biliary reconstructive surgery was necessary in the other two who had serious biliary duct lesions. No recurrence was observed after 1 to 7 years. The pigmentary nature of cholelithiasis was established by stone morphology in all cases, and by bile and stone analysis in several cases.

Renal papillary changes in patient with calcium oxalate lithiasis

We report the case of a white woman with bilateral renal calculi that were removed by bilateral nephrolithotomies. The morphology of renal tubular stones and the changes in papillary tissue were studied by light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The stones were made of calcium oxalate and were intratubular. Large calcium phosphate deposits were present in the interstitium. There was a marked interstitial fibrosis and tubular epithelial hyperplasia.

Studies on the morphology of human uric acid stones.

Human uric acid acid renal stones are easily distinguished from other urinary calculi by their globular or spherical shape, their colour and their hardness. Investigations of uric acid crystals grown in the presence of a variety of pigments indicate that a disordered layer structure of the uric acid dihydrate is responsible for the colour of such crystals, caused by the inclusion of pigment molecules into the crystal lattice. This in turn may help to explain the other special properties of uric acid stones.