Role of magnetic resonance urography in diagnosis of pediatric obstructive uropathy: a surgeon perspective

Background: Obstructive uropathy is a group of different pathologies. Congenital obstructive uropathy represents a major cause of renal failure in infants and children. Urinary tract obstruction is defined as any condition that impairs urinary drainage from the pelvicalyceal system and leads to increased pressure and reduced urine flow rate

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Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the role of combined static and dynamic Magnetic Resonance Urography in the management of pediatric obstructive uropathy and to compare it with our basic investigations

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Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on the pediatric patients presented to Pediatric Surgery Department in cooperation with Radiology Department, Ain Shams University Hospitals, presented with upper urinary tract dilatation detected by ultrasonograghy

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Results: There was a high agreement between MRU and our standard imaging data as regard detection of urinary tract obstruction giving the MRU no superiority to the basic imaging in this field. Combined MRU showed the highest accuracy among other investigations in identification of the level of obstruction. Dynamic MRU and renal scintigraphy in our study yielded similar results for identification of split renal function

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Conclusion: This study provides evidence that combined static and dynamic MRU is a promising technique that allows anatomical and functional evaluation of obstructed kidneys to be used as a single modality for the comprehensive evaluation of urinary tract obstruction