Categories: Nephrology

What Stones are Radiopaque? (seen on KUB)

STONES SEEN ON X-RAY [70-90% of stones]

  • calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate:: 75-85%    
  • struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate): 15%  [look for elevated urine pH]   

STONES NOT SEEN ON X-RAY [~10% of stones]

  • uric acid: 5-8% [look for low urine pH]
  • cystine: 1%

REFERENCES

  1. Saw KC, McAteer JA, Monga AG et-al. Helical CT of urinary calculi: effect of stone composition, stone size, and scan collimation. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2000;175 (2): 329-32.
Get Medical Pearls directly to your inbox every week!
Weekly posts with high yield medical knowledge, directly to your mailbox!
Dr. C Humphreys

Internal Medicine

Recent Posts

Mechanism of Mixed Apnea

Mixed apneas are characterized by absent respiratory effort and airflow in the first section of…

8 months ago

How Does Hypothyroidism Cause Hypoventilation?

Although rare, the differential diagnosis of hypoventilation and hypercapnia respiratory failure includes hypothyroidism. It is…

8 months ago

Why is Pro-BNP/ BNP lower in Obesity?

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a hormone created in response to cardiac wall stretch due…

1 year ago

What is Peribronchovascular Distribution on CT imaging?

A common finding described on computed tomography (CT) imaging. A disease with a peribronchovascular distribution…

2 years ago

Trapped Lung vs. Lung Entrapment

Though often used synonymously; Trapped Lung and Lung Entrapment technically describe separate entities along the…

2 years ago

Cause of Pericardial Effusion in Pulmonary Hypertension: Pathogenesis

It is not clearly understood why patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) develop pericardial effusions. However,…

2 years ago

This website uses cookies.