InstalabLitholink 24 Hour
Should you take a Litholink 24 Hour test?
This test is most useful if any of these apply to you.
20 biomarkers included
- CalciumTracks how much calcium spills into urine, one of the main drivers of calcium stones.Why it mattersHigh urine calcium points to salt intake, diet, or a parathyroid hormone problem.
- Oxalic AcidMeasures urinary oxalate, which binds calcium to form the core of most calcium oxalate stones.Why it mattersHigh oxalate points to diet, gut absorption, or rarely an inherited overproduction condition.
- SodiumTracks dietary salt, which pushes the kidney to release more calcium into urine.Why it mattersHigh sodium can explain high urine calcium and gives you a clear diet target.
- PotassiumTracks produce intake, which tends to raise citrate and make urine less acidic.Why it mattersLow potassium suggests too little produce, often matching low citrate and more acidic urine.
- MagnesiumA stone blocker that binds oxalate and competes with calcium in the urine.Why it mattersLow magnesium removes another layer of protection against calcium oxalate crystal growth.
- CreatinineReleased by muscle at a steady rate, it checks whether the 24-hour collection is believable.Why it mattersCreatinine far from your expected value means the collection may be incomplete or mistimed.
- PhosphateAdds to calcium phosphate saturation and can reflect diet, parathyroid hormone, or bone mineral loss.Why it mattersHigh phosphate can feed calcium phosphate saturation, especially when urine pH is also high.
- CitrateA built-in stone blocker. Citrate binds calcium and helps keep it dissolved.Why it mattersLow citrate removes natural protection and is often a treatment target even when other numbers look fine.
- Calcium Oxalate SaturationThe summary risk score for the most common stone type, combining calcium, oxalate, citrate, and volume.Why it mattersA high score means your urine is close to growing calcium oxalate crystals.
- Calcium Phosphate SaturationThe risk score for calcium phosphate stones, driven mainly by calcium, phosphate, and higher urine pH.Why it mattersA high score with high pH suggests a phosphate-based stone process.
- pHThe acidity of your urine, which decides which crystals can form.Why it mattersLow pH favors uric acid stones; high pH favors calcium phosphate stones.
- Uric Acid SaturationThe risk score for uric acid stones, driven by uric acid load and acidic urine.Why it mattersA high score is the pattern where uric acid stones may shrink when urine is made less acidic.
- Uric AcidMeasures the daily uric acid load, which can form uric acid stones and promote calcium stones.Why it mattersHigh uric acid adds fuel for uric acid crystals and can worsen calcium oxalate risk.
- AmmoniumShows how much acid your kidney is getting rid of, tying diet to urine pH.Why it mattersAmmonium helps separate diet-related acid from a kidney problem with handling acid.
- ChlorideMoves with sodium as a second read on salt intake and urine acid patterns.Why it mattersChloride helps confirm whether salt intake is shaping urine calcium, volume, and pH.
- SulfateA marker of animal protein intake and the acid produced when your body processes it.Why it mattersHigh sulfate supports a protein-heavy pattern that can lower citrate and acidify urine.
- Urea NitrogenReflects total protein intake, corroborating the dietary picture from sulfate.Why it mattersHigh urea nitrogen supports protein intake as part of the pattern behind low citrate or high calcium.
- Calcium/Creatinine RatioExpresses calcium relative to creatinine, helping interpret calcium when total urine timing or volume looks questionable.Why it mattersA high ratio supports truly high urine calcium, even if the collection volume looks off.
- CystineScreens for high cystine, an amino acid that rises in urine with an inherited stone disorder.Why it mattersMeaningful cystine points to cystinuria, a lifelong genetic condition needing specific management.
- Urine Volume (Preserved)Total urine output, the simplest measure of how diluted your stone chemistry is.Why it mattersLow volume raises every saturation score at once and is usually the first fix.
About Litholink 24 Hour
Once you've formed a kidney stone, the chance of another one is high enough that prevention has to be aimed at the cause. A scan can show the stone. It can't show the urine chemistry that made it grow.
This panel turns one full day of urine into a readout of how concentrated it is, which crystal type it favors, which diet signals are pushing it, and whether the collection was complete enough to trust.
What This Panel Reveals
Stones form when urine is too concentrated for minerals to stay dissolved. Saturation means how close your urine is to forming calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, or uric acid crystals. Those scores are the panel's main risk readout.
The rest of the panel explains why a saturation score is high. It separates concentration from mineral load, acidity from alkalinity, stone blockers from stone builders, and diet pattern from kidney handling. That is the point of the 24-hour format. Risk comes from the mix, not a spot result.
Some markers read back your habits. Salt intake often travels with higher urine calcium. Protein load shows up in nitrogen and acid markers and can pull citrate down. Produce-rich eating tends to move the pattern the other way. The panel is useful because it links a chemistry problem to a thing you can change.
Creatinine is the quality check. Your muscles release it fairly steadily. If the amount is far from what your body size predicts, the collection may have missed urine or run long, and the rest of the report gets less trustworthy.
How to Read Your Results Together
No single line decides your risk. The patterns do.
| Pattern | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Low urine volume with high saturation scores across all three stone types | Dilution is the first move. More urine lowers every score at once. |
| High urine calcium alongside high sodium | Salt intake may be pushing calcium into your urine. Cutting salt often brings both down. |
| Low citrate with low pH and high sulfate | A protein-heavy acid pattern. Diet changes and, when needed, citrate treatment are common next steps. |
| Low pH with high uric acid saturation | A uric acid stone pattern. If the stone is uric acid, making urine less acidic can dissolve it. |
Water is the simplest proven move. In a five-year randomized trial of calcium stone formers, people assigned to keep urine volume above two liters a day had fewer recurrences: about 12 out of 100, compared with 27 out of 100 with no treatment.
Don't treat the lab's normal range as the whole answer. In cohort data, urine calcium and volume did not behave like on-off switches; risk varied across the range and differed by age and sex. The practical target is lower saturation for the stone type you're trying to prevent.
What to Do with Your Results
Start with the highest saturation score, then work backward to what is driving it. If the score is high because volume is low, fluid is first. If urine calcium stays high, check blood calcium and parathyroid hormone directly before blaming diet.
Low pH with high uric acid saturation points toward making urine less acidic. Low citrate often points toward citrate treatment. Cystine is different: it points to a lifelong inherited stone disorder and deserves kidney-stone specialist management.
Use this as tracking, not a one-time snapshot. A single day varies with what you ate and drank. If your first result is surprising or will drive medication, a second collection on a different day can prevent overreacting to a strange day. After fluids, diet, or medication changes, repeat in a few months. What you want to see is lower saturation for the stone type you're trying to prevent.
When Results Can Be Misleading
The whole report rests on a complete collection. Miss a urination, collect for the wrong length of time, or choose a day you ate and drank nothing like your usual routine, and the numbers describe that odd day rather than your usual risk. Collecting during a stone episode, a urinary infection, or a crash diet can also skew results. Aim for an ordinary week.