Calcium Oxalate Crystalluria: Crystal Size in Urine

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Abstract
Studies of calcium oxalate crystals in urine suggest similarities to crystal growth in calcium oxalate renal calculi. Urinary crystals in patients in whom stones form are larger than those in normal subjects. Crystal size is reported by structure and habit (shape) based on direct microscopic measurement of crystals in the urine of 27 normal subjects, and in 6 of 22 patients in whom stones form. The mean size of all crystals in normal subjects is 12.0 .+-. 7.8 .mu.m. Calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals are significantly smaller than calcium oxalate dihydrate (P < 0.01). In 22 patients with stones there was no correlation between crystalluria and severity, or duration of disease. The mean crystal size in 6 patients did not support the conclusion that patients in whom stones form excrete larger crystals than normal subjects.