Hydronephrosis Health Article

Diagnosis

If the bladder is significantly distended, it can be felt through the abdomen. An analysis of the urine may reveal blood (if there is a stone), infection, or chemical changes suggesting kidney damage. Blood tests may also detect a decrease in kidney function.

All urinary obstructions will undergo imaging of some sort. Beginning with standard x rays to look for stones, radiologists, physicians specializing in the use of radiant energy for diagnostic purposes, will select from a wide array of tests. Ultrasound is simple, inexpensive, and very useful for these conditions. Standard x rays can be enhanced with contrast agents in several ways. If the kidneys are functioning, they will filter an x ray dye out of the blood and concentrate it in the urine, giving excellent pictures and also an assessment of kidney function. For better images of the lower urinary tract, contrast agents can be instilled from below. This is usually done with a cystoscope placed in the bladder. Through the cystoscope, a small tube can be threaded into the ureter through the ureterovesical valve, allowing dye to be injected all the way up to the kidney. CT and MRI scanning provide miraculous detail, more than is often needed for this condition.

Treatment

The obstruction must be relieved, even if it is partial or functional, as in the case of reflux from the bladder. If not, the kidney will ultimately be damaged, infection will appear, or both. The task may be as simple as placing a catheter through a restricting prostate or as complicated as removing a cancerous bladder and rebuilding a new one with a piece of bowel. In some cases, a badly damaged kidney may have to be removed.

Alternative treatment

Catheters or other urinary diversions may be better for weak or ill patients who cannot tolerate more extensive procedures. There is support using botanical medicine that can help the patient using a catheter avoid infections. Consultation with a trained health care practitioner is necessary.

Prognosis

After relief of the obstruction, a kidney may react with a brief flood of urine, but if the obstruction has been of short duration, normal kidney function will return. If one kidney is destroyed, the other will compensate for the lost organ.