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Middle Aged Woman
Case Study
Teenage Boy Case
Study
3. What amino acids are present in the urine in addition to the visible one?
Cystinuria is characterized by a failure of the renal tubules to absorb cystine, as well as arginine, lysine, and ornithine. Cystine is the only one of these which actually crystallizes in urine, while the rest are soluble. Amino acid chromatography of the patient's urine would show all four as being present.
A 14 year old boy went to his doctor complaining of severe side and back pain, which got worse while he slept. His family history showed males on both his mother's side and his father's side with chronic kidney stones. Urinalysis results are:
| Color |
yellow |
Protein |
negative |
Blood |
small |
| Appearance |
cloudy |
Glucose |
negative |
Urobilinogen |
normal |
| Sp.
Gravity |
1.025 |
Ketones |
negative |
Nitrite |
negative |
| pH |
6.0 |
Bilirubin |
negative |
Leukocyte |
negative |
Microscopic
10-20 RBCs/hpf Few Calcium Oxalate crystals
Many crystals which look like this:
