A Multicentre Trial to Evaluate Three Treatments for Recurrent Idiopathic Calcium Stone Disease — A Preliminary Report

Abstract

Many attempts have been made in recent years to assess various forms of treatment for the prevention of recurrence of idiopathic calcium stones¹⁻⁵. Because of the great variety of experimental designs employed, however, it is extremely difficult to decide which form of therapy is most likely to be successful in a given individual. Some trials have selected patients for specific therapy based on their pre-treatment urinary abnormalities, others have involved no such selective procedures. Some have prescribed their control patients a placebo, others have given no placebo, and others still have included no control patients in their studies. Some have given advice on dietary and fluid intake to their patients, others have not done so. In this study we have organised a multicentre trial to assess three forms of treatment currently being prescribed to recurrent idiopathic calcium stone-formers. These treated patients are compared with a group of similar patients who were receiving no treatment at all, not even advice on dietary and fluid intake.