Kidney stone analysis by x-ray coherent scatter: new insights for therapy?

The success of medical therapies may depend on the type of stone. Knowledge of stone composition often dictates the course of treatment followed by the urologist [5,8]. It can shed some light on the nature of stone formation and identify metabolic abnormalities and underlying medical conditions [9]. Stone composition may thus provide the critical insights needed to devise targeted preventative measures. Laboratory techniques routinely used for a composition analysis of urinary calculi include x-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared spectroscopy (IRS). Unfortunately, these techniques are destructive in nature and can consequently only report the chemical structure of small powdered stone fragments. As such, an accurate overall assessment of composition may only be achieved if several zones of the stone are sampled [10] since most stones vary in structure and composition from core to surface [11]. Detailed information of the structure of components within a stone may provide better indications of the causes of formation and subsequent growth.