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Updated: May 13, 2026

Ultrasonography of the Adult Male Urinary Tract for Urinary Functional Testing
Published on: August 14, 2019
[Composition and morphology of stones in enlarged prostatic utricle]
Jiu-Ming Li1, Hong-Fei Wu, Nai-Cen Xu
11. Department of Urology, Nanjing BenQ Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210019, China.
Objective:
To investigate the composition and morphology of the stones in the enlarged prostatic utricle (EPU).
Methods:
We took out 36 EPU stones from 11 patients by transurethral fenestration between 1992 and 2011, and analyzed the stones by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIS).
Results:
Under the scanning electron microscope, all the EPU stones were constituted of many intensive minicrystals and amorphous matrix. XRD and FTIS revealed that all were hydroxyapatite crystal.
Conclusion:
EPU stones belong to the category of prostatic pseudo-calculi, whose formation is ascribed not to the abnormal change of urine composition, but to the continuous secretion, absorption and concentration of EPU liquid and ablated epithelial cells from the EPU.
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