Renal prostaglandins and calcium excretion in urolithiasis.

Forty-three hypercalciuric patients were treated with a prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor (indomethacin, twenty-eight patients: flurbiprofen, fifteen patients) for periods ranging from 2-4 weeks and all showed a significant fall in urinary calcium excretion to within the normal range (p less than 0.0005). This clinical and experimental study indicates that prostaglandins influence the renal tubular handling of calcium and could be of importance in the pathogenesis of stone formation.