On the relation between citrate and calcium in normal and stone-former subjects.

The aim of this work is to evaluate citrate in a group of patients with calcium oxalate urolithiasis and in a control group for detecting possible differences between the two groups. The mean urinary concentration in groups of stone-formers was found significantly lower than in the control group. Particularly interesting was the correlation study between citrate and calcium. It was found that patients with hypocitraturia have hypercalciuria. Thus, it is particularly interesting to point out the importance of citrate in preventing the risk of lithiasis in stone-formers studied by us.