Urolithiasis in adolescents
A. C. Rambar and R. G. MacKenzie
The characteristics of 31 adolescent patients aged 11 to 20 years with
urolithiasis were examined by means of a ten-year retrospective chart
review. The majority of stones were found to be secondary to preexisting
conditions, with the most common being bladder dysfunction (neurogenic or
exstrophy). Exogenous corticosteroid therapy appeared to play a role in
lithogenesis in five patients and was the only apparent contributing factor
in an 11 1/2-year-old girl. Childhood inborn errors of metabolism accounted
for the stones in four of the teenagers. An additional four adolescents did
not have any definable biochemical, genetic, or anatomic abnormalities and,
therefore, no obvious etiology.
