The drugs of this class have been widely used in patients with calcium nephrolithiasis, more so in those presenting with idio­pathic hypercalciuria. Hydrochlorothiazide, chlortalidone or trichlormethiazide, alone or in association with amiloride, induce a significant reduction of calcium excretion, revert external balance of calcium to positive, and protect bone from demineralisation. Thiazides are able to [...]

The amazing advances in molecular genetics have also in­volved hypercalciuria, and at least three candidate genes were shown to arbour mutations leading to altered calcium excretion. The chloride channel 5 (ClC-5), the calcium sensing receptor and the paracellin-1 are proteins encoded by corresponding genes, whose mutations causing either loss or gain of function, lead to [...]

Introduction Idiopathic hypercalciuria is the most frequent metabolic abnor­mality since up to 40 to 60% of patients with nephrolithiasis are hypercalciuric. Fasting hypercalciuria, accompanies id­iopathic hypercalciuria in up to 50% of the patients. It is widely agreed that high calcium excretion may be causative for stone disease, because the higher calcium concentration, the higher the [...]