Kidney pyeloectasia, causes, symptoms and treatment

Almost every adult person is aware of what pyelonephritis is (inflammation of the kidneys). But few people know that one of the causes of this disease is kidney pyelonectasia. Pyloectasis of the kidneys is the pathway to pyelonephritis.

This term applies to those pathologies when the renal pelvis is enlarged (a place to collect urine before going to the ureter in the bladder). By the vastness of pathological changes, the lesion can be bilateral (by the number of kidneys) or one-sided, when there is left-kidney pyeloectasia or pyeloectasia on the right.

Forms of pyelonectasia and the causes of it

According to the severity of the disease, its various forms are distinguished: light, medium and heavy. Depending on this, in parallel with the pelvis, kidney cups and ureter can be affected. This happens quite often when the disease progresses.

Pyelonectasia of the kidneys occurs when the urine stagnates in the pelvis (bad outflow) or throw it back into the kidney (a counter reverse flow from the bladder). The causes of such pathological processes are divided into different groups:

- Congenital dynamic: phimosis, neurogenic disorders of the urethra, narrowing and constriction of various parts of the urethra.

- Congenital organic: anomalies in the development of the ureter, kidneys, the wall of the upper urinary tract.

- Acquired dynamic: diseases leading to a significant increase in urine, hormonal changes, inflammation of the kidneys, infectious processes, narrowing of the urethra of the acquired character, adenoma and other tumors of the prostate and urethra.

- Acquired organic: urolithiasis, tumors in different parts of the urinary system and neighboring organs, kidney failure, inflammation of the ureter and its narrowing of traumatic or inflammatory nature.

Symptoms and complications

Itself pyeloeaktasia of kidneys of symptoms practically does not give. There are only signs of the underlying disease that caused the expansion of pelvis, or already the consequences.

Complications of urine congestion in the kidneys can be as follows:

- Pyelonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys).

Atrophy of the kidney tissue.

Functional deficiency of the kidneys.

Necrosis of the urinary tissue (sclerosis of the kidney).

Diagnosis of pyelonectasis

Pyloectasis of the kidneys in most cases is detected in the fetus during the woman's pregnancy or during the first year of the child's life during ultrasound (ultrasound). In girls, this renal damage is much less common than in boys. The main number of cases of enlargement of pelvis in children of congenital origin. Sometimes such a pathology occurs during the intensive growth of the body.

In adult patients, the onset of this ailment is due mainly to the canopy overlapping of the ureter. Therefore, with urolithiasis or other predisposing factors for the occurrence of pyelonectasia, periodic ultrasound of the kidneys should be performed to avoid serious complications.

When carrying out an ultrasound examination, attention is drawn to the static size of the pelvis before and after urination, their considerable size (7 mm or more) or its change over the past year.

In connection with the progression of the disease, additional methods of its detection are used to determine the cause: urography (intravenous injection of contrast medium) and cystography (introduction of a contrast medium through a catheter into the bladder).

Treatment and prevention

Based on the research, the specialist doctor determines the treatment tactics. The main step in the therapy of renal pyelonectasia is to eliminate the cause of this ailment. Many congenital anomalies are corrected surgically. To remove stones, if possible, use a conservative method, or if necessary, surgery. Great attention is paid to the prevention of inflammatory processes before and after treatment.

To avoid the formation of this pathology of the kidneys, the following measures exist: timely and full-fledged treatment of diseases of the genitourinary system, restriction of consumed fluid as necessary, adherence to recommendations and strict instructions for pregnancy.