Welcome on the web pages of the German Hyperoxaluria Center
In a special outpatient clinic at the Children's Kidney Center in Bonn (www.knz-bonn.de), we care for pediatric and adult patients with primary and secondary hyperoxaluria. In collaboration with the Wisplinghoff lab in Cologne, we offer the analysis of all substances of the glyoxylate/oxalate metabolism, so that diagnosis is quickly establish and/or an adequate treatment control is possible. The second backbone of the GHC is genetic diagnostics, which is carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Human Genetics of the University Hospital of Cologne.
Either it is produced in extremely high amounts in the liver (due to a congenital disease) or too much oxalate is absorbed through the intestine, e.g. after ingestion of food rich in oxalate (e.g. spinach).
Oxalate must be excreted via the kidneys because the body cannot do anything with it, in urine it binds to calcium and this results in kidney stone formation or renal calcification.
Congenital oxalate disorders have been treated with transplantation, but new drugs are now available, which help to avoid kidney failure. Further research is needed to find even better medications.
