A review of urinary stone analysis techniques.

Knowledge of the chemical composition and structure of urinary stones is of great value in the choice of treatment and prevention of recurrence. This is a brief review and a comparative study of the principles and practical application of various chemical and physical techniques used for urinary stone analysis. The different methods of classifying and grouping urinary stones by results of chemical analytic techniques are, also, compared and evaluated. In addition to reviewing various techniques used for the in-vitro analysis of removed stone samples, the newly emerging physical and radiological techniques for the in-vivo intact-stone analysis are, also, evaluated. These in-vivo techniques, particularly the rapidly advancing unenhanced spiral CT scanning, represent an important step forward towards the notion of non- destructive analysis of urinary stones while still in situ before the choice of treatment modality.