[Medical treatment of urinary lithiasis]

Urinary stone disease is frequent, and characterized by a high recurrence rate. Prevention of recurrent urolithiasis is possible using an appropriate diet with or without medications. Patients should be encouraged to have a high fluid intake. For an adult, urine volume should exceed 2000 ml/day. Diet modification should be done according to the various metabolic factors contributing to the formation of the stone (ie, hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hypocitraturia, hyperuricuria, and so forth). Calcium intake should be around 1000 mg/day, protein intake limited to 1.2 g/kg/day, and salt intake kept to less than 100-150 mEq/jour. For uric acid urolithiasis, patient should limit uric acid intake to less than 500 mg/day. If these dietary manoeuvers fail, one can use thiazide diuretics to treat hypercalciuria, potassium citrate to correct hypocitraturia or sodium bicarbonate to alkalanize urine and prevent uric acid stone formation.