It is interesting to know that the (?definitive) physical methods are
used for the stone analysis/examination. But the point is:
Do you send all the stones for examination using physical methods you
have mentioned as a routine?
Who interprets those results?
Do those results form the basis of any clinical (therapeutic
decision)intervention?
Regards
Vivek
Guy's & St.Thomas' Hospital
London
On Tue, 3 Oct 2000 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>
> We are sending our stones to a commercial reference lab that does nothing but
> stone analysis, using mostly optical crystallography but adding other methods
> like X-ray diffraction, IR and UV spectrophotometry, etc etc etc depending on
> the nature of the stone.
>
> We had looked at the Merck kit and didn't feel comfortable with it, especially
> with the suggestion of using the amount of analytes measured by an essentially
> qualitative method to deduce the type of crystals present. Also, it doesn't help
> you with stones formed by certain medications (Triamterene, Indinavir etc) or if
> the patient submits a few grains of sand. None of those cases are common, but we
> got a few of them over the years.
>
> There are people who would argue that a detailed analysis of a stone isn't
> really needed but then why do the analysis in the first place ?
>
> As the postings show, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on a single gold
> standard, and therefore it seems logical to use a mixed approach, for which you
> need quite a lot of equipment and expertise, non of which you could acquire by
> testing a few stones a month. To me this is a prime example of a test to be
> farmed out to the experts.
>
> Just my five cents (Canadian) worth...
>
> ***********************************************************
> Wolfgang Schneider
> Division of Medical Biochemistry, Montreal General Hospital
> 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada
> Phone (514)-937-6011 x 2782 Fax (514) 934-8086
> Email at work: [log in to unmask]
> Email at home: [log in to unmask]
> Manufactured only with 100% recyclable electrons
> ***********************************************************
>
>
>
>
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