Do you recommend a patient with recurrent nephrolithiasis who is performing a 24 hour urine collection add a urine preservative or keep the specimen refrigerated?

We always add a preservative that will not interfere with any of the analytes to be measured. Additionally, we recommend refrigeration of the specimen.

Stephen B Erickson, MD

Yes, an additive should be used and would highly recommend using an appropriate lab to analyze the urine, such as Litholink.