I'm just a little confused. My book states that if a patient has calcium oxalte, part of the treatment is to administer potassium citrate to maintain alkaline urine. My question is, isn't the alkaline urine causing the formation of calcium oxalate, since the higher the pH the less soluble calcium is? I asked two tutors and one said it's a typo, you're not supposed to give potassium citrate and the other said that it's given so potassium can bind to calcium and break up the formation.
Lianchik
1 Post
I'm just a little confused. My book states that if a patient has calcium oxalte, part of the treatment is to administer potassium citrate to maintain alkaline urine. My question is, isn't the alkaline urine causing the formation of calcium oxalate, since the higher the pH the less soluble calcium is? I asked two tutors and one said it's a typo, you're not supposed to give potassium citrate and the other said that it's given so potassium can bind to calcium and break up the formation.
Which is correct? Help!
Thank you!