Electrical characterization of calcium oxalate hydrate in Urine

Urolithiasis is a very usual problem affecting humans and animals both globally. Calcium-oxalate is the main component of the urinary stones, largely because of the excess consumption of oxalate-rich foods. The occurrence of urinary oxalate occurs by endogenous synthesis. In a normal, healthy individual the excretion of oxalate ranges from 10mg to 45mg per day, based on the age and gender, but risk of stone formation starts at 25mg per day reliant on the individual health history. This study determines a sensitive method for sensing the existence of calcium oxalate in urine. This can be done by measuring the variant amounts of calcium oxalate hydrate (CaC2O4.H2O) in urine and analyzing the dielectric properties of each sample. The proposed method can distinguish dynamic changes in the samples' electrical properties over a time interval. Even for the urine sample containing calcium oxalate hydrate as low as 10μg per ml. This makes the proposed method appropriate for identifying changes that are unrecognized by conventional methods. The potential to detect very small quantity of stone salts makes it a lucrative tool for sensing and quantifying stones in kidney.