Thursday, August 19, 2010

Gem

Sorry about the late post today!
These ghoulish crystals are seen in an alkaline urine of a patient with dysuria.

Challenge: What organism(s) do you expect?

Image shown under Fair Use.
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4 comments:

  1. mãenuelaAugust 20, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    calcium oxalate cristals

    ReplyDelete
  2. cityAugust 20, 2010 at 7:11 PM

    Struvite crystals are found in alkaline urine, typically in the setting of an UTI caused by an urease positive bacteria. Consider Proteus, Klebsiella, S. sapro, and Ureaplasma.

    ReplyDelete
  3. jimmyAugust 22, 2010 at 7:22 PM

    Struvite crystals- Proteus mirabilis

    ReplyDelete
  4. CraigAugust 23, 2010 at 8:58 PM

    ah yes, the crystal differential..this does happen to be struvite! i had a previous case before that had calcium oxalate (also a great image)
    -
    Gem

    "Coffin-lid" struvite (magnesium phosphate) crystals are associated with urea-splitting bacteria such as Proteus or Klebsiella.

    Sources: UpToDate; meded.ucsd.edu.

    ReplyDelete

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