Kidney stones in Albanian children

Abstract

Urolithiasis is already one of the oldest, even in pediatric patients. The occurrence of kidney stones is estimated to be 1:20.000 children/year. The medium age of onset is between 5-7 years. Our study aimed to see the characteristic features, predisposing factors, and therapeutic procedures for Kidney stones in children, as well as metabolic abnormalities, especially hypercalciuria. In a retrospective study, we involved 216 patients (46% of them with a family history of kidney stones) in 8 years (from 2010-2018). All patients underwent abdominal ultrasonography and laboratory examination. Male/female ratio was 2.17:1. Diagnostic medium age was 6.44 years. The most frequent symptoms were: back pain at 33.3%, abdominal pain at 19.4%, gross hematuria at 19.4%, microhematuria at 14%, urinary retention at 9.7%, dysuria at 8.3%, vomiting at 11.1%, growth retardation in 4.2%, hypertension in 1.4%, the spontaneous passage of renal calculi in 5.5%. 4.2% of patients were asymptomatic. We found infectious stones in 47.2% of cases. The chemical composition of the stone was studied only in 51% of cases, from which 56% appeared to be calcium oxalate and phosphate stones. We found metabolic abnormalities in 50% of patients. Urolithiasis is a common disease among Albanian children. 50% of patients had metabolic disorders. Calcium-oxalate and calcium-phosphate represent the most frequent types of calculi. Hypercalciuria is the most essential metabolic disorder. Hypocitraturia is the risk factor for calcium urolithiasis. We recommend estimating every child with a stone for metabolic screening.