Plasma level and renal clearance of oxalate in normal subjects and in patients with primary hyperoxaluria and/or chronic renal failure

Abstract

Estimation of plasma oxalate level has been unsatisfactory in the past. Methods based upon ¹⁴C oxalate have been used but have suffered from drawbacks. Thus the methods of Williams, Johnson and Smith(1) relied upon assuming the urinary oxalate value instead of measuring it, while that of Hodgkinson and Wilkinson (2) used a single shot of ¹⁴ C oxalate and therefore relied upon a falling level of radioactivity. These methods agreed however in yielding normal values of plasma oxalate of about 1 –2 μmol/l, much lower than given by chemical methods either before (see 2) or since (3).