[Enteric hyperoxaluria. I. Intestinal oxalate absorption in gastrointestinal diseases (author's transl)]

Oxalate-urolithiasis and hyperoxalaria have been reported to be a frequent complication in patients with small bowel disease, especially in patients with ileal resection due to Crohn's disease. Hyperabsorption of oxalate seems to be the main patholgenetic factor for "enteric" hyperoxalaria. Intestinal absorption and urinary excretion of oxalate was measured in patients with various gastrointestinal diseases after oral or rectal administration of 14C-oxalate. Kinetic data suggest that 14C-oxalate is absorbed in the small, the large bowel and the rectum as well. Oxalate absorption was decreased in patients with a colectomy and in active ulcerative colitis, but increased in patients with ileal resection, chronic liver disease, and steatorrhea due to chronic pancratitis or sprue. There existed a positive correlation between 14C-oxalate absorption and the amount of fecal fat excretion. The data suggest that hyperoxaluria and hyperabsorption of oxalate are not a specific finding in patients with bile acid malabsorption, but may occur too, in steatorrhea without alteration of bile acid metabolism.