Introduction:
Urinary tract stone is one of the commonest conditions in urology. A first episode of urinary tract stone disease confers a lifetime risk of further stone formation having a 30% to 40% risk of recurrence within 5 years.
Urinary pH is an important factor linked to renal stone disease. It is also a useful marker in the treatment of urolithiasis.
Objective:
To study the viability of applying a validated hand-held urine pH meter to check the urine pH for the urinary tract stone formers who can receive prompt treatment at outpatient setting.
Materials and Method:
Patients attending the stone clinic with confirmed urinary tract stones were instructed to save urine for pH. The urine pH was measured by three commonly used methods: pH paper, hand-held pH meter and hospital's laboratory pH meter for comparative measurement.
The urine pH reading from both pH paper or hand-held pH meter were performed by 2 separated nurses in stone clinic Both were blinded to each other's results. The readings were compared with laboratory pH meter.
Result:
There were 634 attendances from June 2022 to Dec 2024 in which 63.5% were male and 36.5% were female. The mean age was 64.6. Apparently, there were more stone recurrent patients (87.8% versus 62.8%) benefited at stone clinic by using a hand-held pH meter versus pH paper to measure urine pH value. In addition, the cost of using hand-held pH meter and calibration solutions for 64 specimens were only HK$213 if compared with the cost HK$8000 required in laboratory.
Conclusion:
Hand-held urine pH meter is a reliable pH measuring device which is more accurate compared to pH paper. Hand-held urine pH meter is simple to use. Patients with recurrent stone are beneficial from (1) shorten hospital journey; (2) prompt medication management and (3) cost effective.
