THE KIDNEYS AND HYPERTENSION
Guest Editor: Blaufox M. D. 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2002 December;46(4):304-10

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Urinary tract infection and other pediatric considerations

Rossleigh M. A.

Department of Nuclear Medicine The Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospital University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Urinary ­tract infec­tion in child­hood can ­lead to chron­ic seque­lae, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the pres­ence of ves­i­co-ure­ter­ic ­reflux or obstruc­tion. The ­renal com­pli­ca­tions of ­acute pye­lo­neph­ritis or resid­u­al chron­ic ­renal cor­ti­cal scar­ring are ­most accu­rate­ly eval­u­at­ed ­with scin­tig­ra­phy ­using 99mTc dimer­cap­tos­uc­cin­ic ­acid. The diag­no­sis of ­renal obstruc­tion can be prob­le­mat­ic, par­tic­u­lar­ly in ­infants and chil­dren. Diuresis renog­ra­phy is an estab­lished ­tool in diag­nos­ing and assess­ing the sever­ity of obstruc­tion. However the meth­o­dol­o­gy for per­form­ing diu­re­sis renog­ra­phy is a ­very con­tro­ver­sial ­area in paed­i­at­ric nucle­ar med­i­cine, due to the ­lack of a ­gold stan­dard. The sur­gi­cal man­age­ment of neo­na­tal hydro­neph­ro­sis is sim­i­lar­ly con­tro­ver­sial.