Renal stone disease may ensue from either derangements of urine biochemistries or anatomic abnormalities of kidneys and urinary tract

Croppi, Emanuele

Marangella, Martino

Vitale, Corrado

PubMed

Renal stone disease may ensue from either derangements of urine biochemistries or anatomic abnormalities of kidneys and urinary tract.

Genetic, environmental and dietary factors may also cooperate in the pathophysiology of nephrolithiasis.

An adequate metabolic evaluation should focus on the urinary excretion of promoters and inhibitors of stone formation as well as on the occurrence of systemic diseases potentially related to secondary nephrolithiasis (i.e., endocrine disturbances, malabsorption, bone diseases). Moreover, metabolic investigations should provide reliable information on patient’s dietary habits, guide towards the best therapeutic approach and enable the physician to verify patient’s compliance to prescribed therapies.

An extensive metabolic evaluation is recommended in patients with active stone disease (namely, at least one new stone within the last two years), or in those having had a single stone episode occurred in peculiar conditions: familial history of disease, childhood, menopause, pregnancy, systemic diseases. Simplified protocols may be adequate in non-active nephrolithiasis or in patients with single stone and no relevant risk factors.

In our Stone Centre, a so-called “first level screening” is performed by routine, in order to assess urinary supersaturation with stone forming salts and evaluate the excretion of dietaryrelated metabolites in urine. Relative blood and urine determinations are reported below.

In venous blood: urea, creatinine, uric acid, Na, K, total and ionised Ca, Mg, P, Cl, alkaline phosphatase, gas analysis.

In 24-hr urine samples: urea, creatinine, uric acid, Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Cl, oxalate, inorganic sulphate, citrate, pH, ammonia and titratable acidity.

In fasting urine samples: Ca, citrate, creatinine, hydroxyproline, Brand’s test for cistinuria, urine sediment, urine culture. If the first-level evaluation suggested an abnormal bone turnover, then further determinations are warranted, namely, calciotropic hormones (blood Vitamin D and PTH), markers of bone resorption (urine pyridinium crosslinks, serum crosslaps) and formation (serum osteocalcin) bone mineral density.

Eventually, more sophisticated investigations are required to improve the diagnosis of peculiar diseases: serum oxalate and glycolate, urine glycolate and L-glycerate, hepatic AGT activity (primary hyperoxalurias); genetic tests (hereditary nephrolithiasis); acidification tests (renal tubular acidosis)

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Corrado VitaleaEmanuele CroppibMartino Marangellaaa S.C. Nefrologia e Dialisi, Azienda Ospedaliera Ordine Mauriziano, Turin, Italyb University of Florence, Florence, Italy  Address for correspondence: Corrado Vitale, M.D.S.C. Nefrologia e DialisiLargo Turati 62, 10128 Turin, ItalyPh. +39 011 5082424Fax +39 011 5082422E-mail: covitale@libero.itSummaryRenal stone disease may ensue from either derangements ofurine biochemistries or anatomic abnormalities of kidneysand urinary tract. Genetic, environmental and dietary factors may also cooper-ate in the pathophysiology of nephrolithiasis.  An adequate metabolic evaluation should focus on the urinaryexcretion of promoters and inhibitors of stone formation aswell as on the occurrence of systemic diseases potentially re-lated to secondary nephrolithiasis (i.e., endocrine distur-bances, malabsorption, bone diseases). Moreover, metabolicinvestigations should provide reliable information on patient’sdietary habits, guide towards the best therapeutic approachand enable the physician to verify patient’s compliance to pre-scribed therapies.An extensive metabolic evaluation is recommended in pa-tients with active stone disease (namely, at least one newstone within the last two years), or in those having had a sin-gle stone episode occurred in peculiar conditions: familial his-tory of disease, childhood, menopause, pregnancy, systemicdiseases. Simplified protocols may be adequate in non-activenephrolithiasis or in patients with single stone and no relevantrisk factors.In our Stone Centre, a so-called “first level screening” is per-formed by routine, in order to assess urinary supersaturationwith stone forming salts and evaluate the excretion of dietary-related metabolites in urine. Relative blood and urine determi-nations are reported below.In venous blood: urea, creatinine, uric acid, Na, K, total andionised Ca, Mg, P, Cl, alkaline phosphatase, gas analysis. In 24-hr urine samples: urea, creatinine, uric acid, Na, K, Ca,Mg, P, Cl, oxalate, inorganic sulphate, citrate, pH, ammoniaand titratable acidity. In fasting urine samples: Ca, citrate, creatinine, hydroxypro-line, Brand’s test for cistinuria, urine sediment, urine culture. If the first-level evaluation suggested an abnormal boneturnover, then further determinations are warranted, namely,calciotropic hormones (blood Vitamin D and PTH), markers ofbone resorption (urine pyridinium crosslinks, serum cross-laps) and formation (serum osteocalcin) bone mineral density.Eventually, more sophisticated investigations are required toimprove the diagnosis of peculiar diseases: serum oxalateand glycolate, urine glycolate and L-glycerate, hepatic AGTactivity (primary hyperoxalurias); genetic tests (hereditarynephrolithiasis); acidification tests (renal tubular acidosis).KEY WORDS: nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis, hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria,hypocitraturia, urine supersaturation.IntroductionThe rationale for the investigation on the urinary composition ofstone forming patients comes from the assumption that de-rangements of urine biochemistries may play a pivotal role inthe pathogenesis of nephrolithiasis. Also, anatomic abnormali-ties of kidneys and urinary tract, genetic, environmental and di-etary factors may cooperate in the pathophysiology of renalstone disease (1-3). The urinary excretions of many substances (i.e., water, elec-trolytes, nitrogen, ash-acid and alkali) depend on their glomeru-lar filtration and the subsequent tubular handling, which, inturns, is usually modulated so as to keep their external balancein equilibrium. In other cases (for example, fasting hypercalciuria syndromes,renal tubular acidosis and cystinuria) the tubular handling of pro-moters and inhibitors of stone formation, as well as their urinarypattern, can be strongly influenced by genetic factors (4-6).Eventually, despite nephrolithiasis is a multifactorial disease,the study of the propensity towards the crystallization of stoneforming salts in urine still remains the easiest strategy for theNephrologist to estimate the propensity towards the relapses ofstone disease in individual patients (7).In addition to the assessment of the urinary pattern of promot-ers and inhibitors of stone formation, a suitable metabolic eval-uation should also focus on the occurrence of systemic dis-eases potentially complicating with secondary nephrolitiasis,i.e., endocrine disturbances, intestinal malabsorption, bone dis-eases (8-10). Moreover, metabolic investigations should also provide reliableinformation on patient’s dietary regimen, in order to better de-fine the pathophysiology of the disease and enable the physi-cian to verify the compliance of the patient to the prescribedtherapies. In this paper, we described the pattern of biochemical investi-gations routinely used for the clinical management of stone-forming outpatients referring to the Renal Stone Centre of theMauriziano Hospital in Torino (Italy).MethodsThe main clinical objectives of an extensive metabolic evalua-tion for stone-forming patients are reported in Table I.In our Stone Centre, recurrent stone-forming patients are sub-mitted by routine to a “first-level screening”, aimed at both in-vestigating on the main urinary risk factors for nephrolithiasisand getting information on dietary habits, namely, water, sodi-um, vegetables, calcium and protein intakes. Taken together,Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism 2008; 5(2): 127-130 127Biochemical evaluation in renal stone diseaseMini-review©IC EDIZIONI INTERNAZIONALIserum ionised calcium, serum phosphate and tubular resorp-tion of phosphate (TmPO4) inform on the biological activity ofPTH (Tables II, III).Starting from the main urine biochemistries, by means of adedicated computer-based method, urine supersaturations withcalcium oxalate (βCaOx), brushite (βbsh) and uric acid (βUA)are calculated in each patient, to get an estimate of the propen-sity towards the crystallization of these stone-forming salts inurine (11). Further investigation can be used for the differential diagnosisamong severe hypercalciuria syndromes, or in case of hyper-calcemia. To this purpose, our “second-level screening” is fo-cused on the study of both the profile of calciotropic hormonesand bone turnover (Table IV). More sophisticated investigations are recommended in case ofrare diseases, as follows. If primary hyperoxaluria is suspected, Oxalate and Glycolateare measured in plasma and Glycolate and Glycerate in urineas well (12). In selected cases of primary hyperparathyroidism, especially128 Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism 2008; 5(2): 127-130C. Vitale et al.Table I - Main clinical objectives of metabolic evaluation for stone-forming patients.a) Estimation of the urinary propensity to the crystallisation ofstone-forming salts.b) Investigation on the pathophysiology of urine excretion of promoters and inhibitors of nephrolithiasis.c) Search for underlying systemic diseases.d) Information on dietary habits.e) Background for therapy prescription. f) Assessment of patients’ compliance to therapy.Table II - “First-level screening” for nephrolithiasis.Blood: Urea, Creatinine, Uric acid, Na, K, Ca, Ca 2+, Mg, P, Cl, ALP, pH and bicarbonate.24-hr urine: Urea, Creatinine, Uric acid, Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Cl, Oxalate, Inorganic sulphate, Citrate, pH, NH4+, Bicarbonate and Titratable acid.Fasting urine: Ca, Citrate, Creatinine, OH-proline, Brand’s test for cystinuria.UrinalysisUrine cultureChemical analysis of available stone fragmentsTable III - “First-level screening”: calculated parameters. Index Calculation Related toCreatinine clearance Standard formula Glomerular filtration rate(ml/min)Total nitrogen excretion Nitrogen from urea, creatinine, uric acid, Whole protein intake(mmol/24h) ammonia, in 24 hr-urine Net acid excretion Ammonia + titratable acid – bicarbonate, Animal protein intake (mmol/24h) in 24-hr urine Sulphate excretion Urinary sulphate Animal protein intake(mmol/24h)Na and Cl excretion Urinary Na and Cl NaCl intake(mmol/24h)Calcium excretion Urinary calcium Dietary dependence on calcium excretion(mg/24 h)(mg/24 h/kg bw)fasting Ca/Creatinine ratioIntestinal absorption of alkali (Na + K + Ca + Mg) - (Cl + P) Alkali and vegetables intake(mmol/24h)TmPO4/GFR           Nomogram Tubular handling of phosphateβCaOx Computer method Urine state of saturation with calcium oxalateβbsh Computer method Urine state of saturation with brushiteβUA Computer method urine state of saturation with uric acidbw: body weight.© CIC EDIZIONI INTERNAZIONALIwhen multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN I) is suspected(13), DNA assay in circulating leukocytes can be used. If an incomplete form of distal Renal Tubular Acidosis (RTAtype I) is suspected, then the diagnosis can be confirmed bymeans of urine acidification tests (14, 15).DiscussionAn extensive metabolic evaluation, aimed at the calculation ofurine supersaturation with stone-forming salts, requires a largenumber of biochemical analyses both in blood and urines. Con-sequently, it can be rather expensive and time-consuming.Urine must be carefully collected for twenty-four hours, by sep-arating each sample into two separated bottles, one containingconcentrated hydrochloric acid, the other chlorexidine aspreservatives. The former is assayed for urea, creatinine, Na,K, Ca, P, Mg, oxalate, sulphate, citrate; the latter, for pH, Cl,titratable acid, ammonia.  Such extensive metabolic study must be performed in spe-cialised laboratories, so it is recommended mainly for patientswith active stone disease (i.e., those who have experienced atleast one new stone within the last two years) or for those whohave presented a single stone episode in peculiar conditions:familial history of disease, childhood, menopause, pregnancy,systemic diseases. Conversely, a simplified protocol may be adequate for patientswithout either active stone disease or relevant risk factors fornephrolithiasis, referring after a single stone event. These pa-tients should first refer to the General Practitioner who, afterhaving excluded dangerous nephrolithiasis-related systemicdisturbances (in particular, hypercalcemic syndromes), cangive them suitable advice in order to reduce the risk for stoneformation, namely, high water supply and low calories, salt andanimal protein intakes. Thereafter, the Practitioner can surveythe clinical course of these subjects and refer the frequent re-lapsers to a qualified Stone Centre. Patients undergoing metabolic study for the first time must bereminded to keep on maintaining their dietary habits before theexaminations, in order to obtain information on their biochemi-cal profile on steady state. This will provide a reliable estimateof the actual propensity for stone formation and, during follow-up, enable to evaluate the effect of given therapies. In this paper we referred on the pattern of laboratory determi-nations used for the assessment of the risk for urinary stoneformation with patients referring to our Stone Centre. The “first-level screening”, as detailed in Table II, is aimed atmeasuring: first, renal function; second, urinary excretion of themain promoters (calcium, oxalate, phosphate, uric acid, cys-tine) and inhibitors (magnesium, citrate) of stone formation;third, urine supersaturation with stone forming salts. Further-more, the same analyses inform on the usual dietary habits(Table III), as it will be summarised below.In patients on steady state, who are not rapidly changing theirbody weight, total nitrogen excretion is closely related to theirexternal balance of nitrogen and can be used to estimate thewhole amount of dietary protein. The greatest part of both sulphate and urinary acid excretioncomes from the metabolism of sulphur-containing aminoacids.It follows that, in this subset, the measure of net acid and sul-phate excretion helps in estimating the dietary intake of proteinof animal origin, which are believed to play a pivotal role oncalcium excretion (16, 17).As far as vegetable and fruit intake are concerned, they can beconsidered as the main dietary source of alkali. It has beendemonstrated that the intestinal absorption of alkali can be reli-ably estimated from the difference between urinary cations andanions (18). There is a close relationship between sodium and calcium ex-cretions. Sodium excretion depends on the intake of sodium-containing salts, mainly, sodium chloride. As each gram of Na-Cl contains 17 mmoles of both Na and Cl, the actual dietary in-take of NaCl can be assessed from urinary Na and Cl excre-tions. For example, daily intake of 10 grams of NaCl will pro-duce urinary excretion of about 170 mmoles of both Na and Clper day.The relationship between calcium excretion and calcium intakeare complex; indeed, sodium and protein intake can affect cal-cium excretion even more than calcium intake itself (19).Therefore, for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, it ap-pears to be more useful to get information on the dietary-de-pendence rather than on the calcium-dependence of hypercal-ciuria. By comparing daily urinary calcium excretion (eitherconsidered as calcium to creatinine ratio or calcium per kg ofbody weight) with fasting calcium excretion, fasting (dietary-in-dependent) hypercalciuria can be distinguished from dietary-dependent hypercalciuria. The evaluation of calciotropic hor-mones and markers of bone turnover (second-level screening,Table IV) is usually unnecessary in calcium stone formers pre-senting with dietary-dependent hypercalciuria. In the face of normal levels of calcium and phosphate in plas-ma, the assessment of tubular handling of phosphate (Tm-PO4/GFR) can be taken as a suitable tool to exclude signifi-cant derangements in parathyroid hormone excretion.In conclusion, our first-level biochemical approach, by provid-ing a reliable assessment of metabolic profile with the stone-forming patients, can be sufficient for the Nephrologists toguide therapeutic prescriptions in the majority of cases. On the other hand, the “second-level screening” (Table IV) isrecommended if urine biochemistries or serum calcium levelsare suggestive for complex derangements of physiologicalbone turnover, which can develop either as primary or sec-Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism 2008; 5(2): 127-130 129Biochemical evaluation in renal stone diseaseTable IV - “Second-level screening”.Vitamin D metabolites: Serum 25 OH Vitamin D; serum 1.25 (OH)2 Vitamin D. Parathyroid hormone: Intact PTH.Markers of bone formation: Serum osteocalcin (BGP); Alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes.Markers of bone resorption: Serum crosslaps, urine deoxypyridynoline (DPD).Multiple myeloma: Plasma protein electrophoresis, urine light chains.Thyroid function: TSH, thyroid hormones.Bone mineral density: Lumbar or femoral DEXA.Acid-base balance: Venous blood gasanalysis, fasting urine pH and ammonium.© CICEDIZIONI INTERNAZIONALIondary disease in stone-forming patients. In those cases,nephrolithiasis appears as a typical multidisciplinary disease,whose diagnostic and therapeutic approaches take the bestadvantages from the close collaboration among nephrologist,endocrinologist, oncologist, gynaecologist and general practi-tioner. References11. Moe OW. Kidney stones: pathophysiology and medical manage-ment. Lancet. 2006 Jan 28;367(9507):333-44. Review.12. Taylor EN, Stampfer MJ, Curhan GC. Dietary factors and the riskof incident kidney stones in men: new insights after 14 years of fol-low-up. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2004 Dec;15(12):3225-32.13. Ramello A, Vitale C, Marangella M. Epidemiology of nephrolithia-sis. J Nephrol. 2000 Nov-Dec;13 Suppl 3:S45-50. Review. 14. Vezzoli G, Soldati L, Gambaro G. Update on Primary Hypercalci-uria From a Genetic Perspective. J Urol. 2008 Mar 14; [Epubahead of print]. 15. Devuyst O, Pirson Y. Genetics of hypercalciuric stone forming dis-eases. Kidney Int. 2007 Nov;72(9):1065-72. Epub 2007 Aug 8.Review.16. Mattoo A, Goldfarb DS. Cystinuria. Semin Nephrol. 2008 Mar;28(2):181-91.17. Parks JH, Coward M, Coe FL. Correspondence between stonecomposition and urine supersaturation in nephrolithiasis. KidneyInt. 1997 Mar;51(3):894-900.18. Odvina CV, Sakhaee K, Heller HJ, Peterson RD, Poindexter JR,Padalino PK, Pak CY. Biochemical characterization of primary hy-perparathyroidism with and without kidney stones. Urol Res. 2007Jun;35(3):123-8. Epub 2007 May 3.19. Worcester EM. Stones from bowel disease. Endocrinol Metab ClinNorth Am. 2002 Dec;31(4):979-99. Review.10. Heilberg IP, Weisinger JR. Bone disease in idiopathic hypercalci-uria. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. 2006 Jul;15(4):394-402.11. Marangella M, Daniele PG, Ronzani M, Sonego S, Linari F. Urinesaturation with calcium salts in normal subjects and idiopathic cal-cium stone formers estimated by an improved computer modelsystem. Urol Res. 1985;13:189-93. 12. Marangella M, Petrarulo M, Vitale C, Bagnis C, Berutti S, RamelloA, Amoroso A. The primary hyperoxalurias. Contrib Nephrol. 2001;(136):11-32. Review.13. Osther PJ, Bollerslev J, Hansen AB, Engel K, Kildeberg P. Patho-physiology of incomplete renal tubular acidosis in recurrent renalstone formers: evidence of disturbed calcium, bone and citratemetabolism. Urol Res. 1993 May;21(3):169-73.14. Falchetti A, Marini F, Luzi E, Tonelli F, Brandt ML. Multiple en-docrine neoplasms. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2008 Mar;22(1):149-63.15. Walsh SB, Shirley DG, Wrong OM, Unwin RJ. Urinary acidificationassessed by simultaneous furosemide and fludrocortisone treat-ment: an alternative to ammonium chloride. Kidney Int. 2007Jun;71(12):1310-6. Epub 2007 Apr 4.16. Kerstetter JE, O’Brien KO, Insogna KL. Low protein intake: the im-pact on calcium and bone homeostasis in humans. J Nutr. 2003Mar;133(3):855S-861S. Review. 17. Marangella M, Vitale C, Bagnis C, Bruno M, Ramello A. Idiopathiccalcium nephrolithiasis. Nephron. 1999;81 Suppl 1:38-44.18. Oh MS. A new method for estimating G-I absorption of alkali. Kid-ney Int. 1989; 36/5: 915-7.19. Pak CY, Odvina CV, Pearle MS, Sakhaee K, Peterson RD, Poindex-ter JR, Brinkley LJ. Effect of dietary modification on urinary stone riskfactors. Kidney Int. 2005 Nov;68(5):2264-73.130 Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism 2008; 5(2): 127-130C. Vitale et al.© CIC EDIZIONI INTERNAZIONALI

Biochemical evaluation in renal stone disease

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Biochemical evaluation in renal stone disease

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