Un nuevo enfoque en el análisis de la litiasis urinaria en función de la combinación de sus componentes: experiencia con 7.949 casos

objective: to evaluate a new approach to urinary stone analysis according to the combination of the components. materials and methods: a total of 7949 stones were analysed and their main components and combinations of components were classified according to gender and age. statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test. results: calcium oxalate monohydrate (com) was the most frequent component in both males (39%) and females (37.4%), followed by calcium oxalate dihydrate (cod) (28%) and uric acid (uri) (14.6%) in males and by phosphate (pho) (22.2%) and cod (19.6%) in females (p=0.0001). in young people, cod and pho were the most frequent components in males and females respectively (p=0.0001). in older patients, com and uri (in that order) were the most frequent components in both genders (p=0.0001). com is oxalate dependent and is related to diets with a high oxalate content and low water intake. the progressive increase in uri with age is related mainly to overweight and metabolic syndrome. regarding the combinations of components, the most frequent were com (26.3%), cod+apatite (apa) (15.5%), uri (10%) and com+cod (7.5%) (p=0.0001). conclusions: this study reports not only the composition of stones but also the main combinations of components according to age and gender. the results prove that stone composition is related to the changes in dietary habits and life-style that occur over a lifetime, and the morphological structure of stones is indicative of the aetiopathogenic mechanisms.