Survey of urinary crystals identified in residents of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Implications for the diagnosis and management of renal dysfunctions

The first step of renal lithiasis process is crystals formation. Because of this link, a prospective study on the profile of urinary crystals was conducted in Ouagadougou with the aim of describing profiles of these crystals in the context of a Sahelian tropical country. This study showed strong prevalence (78.69%) crystals within the population from 15 to 59 years old. Male subjects were the most concerned with 55.93 % prevalence. Among the crystals, we distinguished those who were without compulsory pathological interest with strong prevalence of the crystals of calcium oxalate (56.11%) and uric acid (20.55%). Crystals with immediate pathological interest were bilirubin (0.66%), the cystine (0.36%), leucine (0.06%) and tyrosine (0.06%). Prevalence of crystals derived from drugs were sulfamides (0.18%) and mycostatine (0.06%). Besides, 20.8% of the patients having urinary crystals had urinary tract infection. Bacteriological analysis of urines showed a presence of producing urease bacteria: Klebsiella (12.96%), Proteus (3.0%), Enterobacter (1.66%) and, Pseudomonas (1.66%). In conclusion, this work showed the interest to pay more attention on urinary crystals. Indeed this study brought to light crystals with compulsory pathological interest, in particular crystals of bilirubin, cystine, leucine, tyrosine, evidence of abnormalities of protein metabolism