Clinical Chemistry 60:1 274–285 (2014)
What Is Your Guess?
Mysterious Stones Janice Giasson1 and Yu Chen1,2*
CASE DESCRIPTION Two calculi were discovered in an 84-year-old woman who was a bedridden resident of a nursing home. One calculus was just external to the vagina, and the other was inside. Both were foul smelling, 1 to 3 cm in diameter, tan in color, porous, and crispy (Fig. 1). A chemical analysis revealed the calculi to be composed of magnesium and ammonium phosphate. The patient did not have a urethrovaginal fistula.
Fig. 1. Vaginal calculus from an 84-year-old woman.
QUESTIONS 1. How does one classify vaginal calculi? 2. What conditions might cause a vaginal calculus? 3. What differentiation should be exercised for vaginal calculus? The answers are on the next page.
1
Division of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; 2 Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. * Address correspondence to this author at: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr.
274
Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5N5. Fax 506-452-5422; e-mail [email protected]. Received February 19, 2013; accepted March 7, 2013. DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2013.205427
What Is Your Guess?
Mysterious Stones Janice Giasson1 and Yu Chen1,2*
CASE DESCRIPTION Two calculi were discovered in an 84-year-old woman who was a bedridden resident of a nursing home. One calculus was just external to the vagina, and the other was inside. Both were foul smelling, 1 to 3 cm in diameter, tan in color, porous, and crispy (Fig. 1). A chemical analysis revealed the calculi to be composed of magnesium and ammonium phosphate. The patient did not have a urethrovaginal fistula.
Fig. 1. Vaginal calculus from an 84-year-old woman.
QUESTIONS 1. How does one classify vaginal calculi? 2. What conditions might cause a vaginal calculus? 3. What differentiation should be exercised for vaginal calculus? The answers are on the next page.
1
Division of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; 2 Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. * Address correspondence to this author at: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dr.
274
Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, Horizon Health Network, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5N5. Fax 506-452-5422; e-mail [email protected]. Received February 19, 2013; accepted March 7, 2013. DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2013.205427
