The role of vitamin D in idiopathic hypercalciuria

Milk-Alkali Syndrome: A Historical Review and Description of the Modern Version of the Syndrome

Formerly recognized primarily for its historic interest as a disorder found in those taking milk and bicarbonate for peptide ulcer disease, milk-alkali syndrome (MAS) is experiencing a resurgence in its incidence largely due to the increased usage of calcium carbonate. The modern version of MAS affects a different patient population and has a different etiologic basis than was characterized in the original descriptions of the syndrome. Advances in parathyroid hormone measurement have allowed for improved diagnostic separation between MAS and hyperparathyroidism and have further explained some of the physiologic responses in the resolution of hypercalcemia. We have reviewed the reasons for the increasing incidence of MAS, described the typical patient with the modern form of the syndrome, and further elaborated on the pathophysiology of MAS, as it is currently understood. MAS is an important diagnostic consideration in the patient with hypercalcemia because the syndrome is now common and prompt diagnosis limits permanent kidney function impairment but depends strongly on considering the diagnosis as well as obtaining an over-the-counter medication history.

Relationship of nutritional factors to the cause, dissolution, and prevention of canine uroliths

Nutritional factors play a variable role in the etiopathogenesis of canine struvite, ammonium urate, cysteine, calcium oxalate, and silica uroliths. Knowledge of these factors allows modification of diets to promote dissolution of selected minerals within uroliths.

Etiopathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and management of canine calcium oxalate urolithiasis

Calcium oxalate uroliths are commonly called metabolic uroliths because they are sequelae of a variety of metabolic abnormalities that alter the composition of body fluids and urine. Factors incriminated in the etiopathogenesis of calcium oxalate urolithiasis include hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, and hyperuricosuria. The predominant type of calcium oxalate urolith encountered in dogs is the monohydrate form; however, the dihydrate form may also occur. Male dogs have been more frequently affected than female dogs. Medical therapy should be formulated with the goal of reducing urine concentration of calculogenic substances.

Pattern of calcium metabolism in normo- and hypercalciuric patients with calcium urolithiasis in Saudi Arabia

Urinary calcium excretion was measured in 100 consecutive normocalcemic patients with calcium urolithiasis and 12 Saudi Arabian controls while the patients and the controls were eating their usual diet of unknown calcium content. Only 16 patients were hypercalciuric using the definition of twenty-four-hour urinary calcium of more than 300 mg for males and more than 250 mg for females, and one of these patients was subsequently found to have hyperparathyroidism. The twenty-four-hour urine calcium was less than 200 mg in 60 per cent of male patients and in all the male controls. Since the dietary intake of calcium during the twenty-four-hour urinary collection was unknown, a 1,000-mg calcium loading test was performed in an attempt to differentiate various patterns of abnormal calcium excretion. Of the twenty-four-hour normocalciuric patients 10 (18%) had "absorptive hypercalciuria" and 16 patients (29%) demonstrated a "renal hypercalciuria" pattern. Thirty-nine patients (57%) and all 12 controls had normocalciuria before and after calcium loading.