Computed Tomographic urography - A boon to renal enigma

Objective: Patients with suspected urinary tract disease are often referred for multiple studies such as excretory urography (EU), ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). With the recent development of multislice helical CT, many institutions have started to evaluate the use of CT as a single imaging test that partially or completely replaces EU. This study aims to formulate a protocol for identifying the key imaging features in patients with urinary tract diseases. Material & Methods: Total 100 patients suspected of having urinary tract disease were evaluated with 64 slice multidetector helical computed tomography (MDCT). Results: Overall male patients (64%) complained more of urinary tract diseases than females (36%).80% patients had positive CT urographic findings based on clinical symptoms. Of these 100 patients, 32 cases were proved to have renal and ureteric calculi and 2 cases of bilateral nephrocalcinosis( medullary calcification) and computed tomographic urography (CTU) correctly diagnosed 32 of 32 renal and ureteric calculi (100%) and 2 cases of bilateral nephrocalcinosis. 6 of 34 patients (17.6 % ) had both uretric and renal calculi. 20 cases were proved to have renal cell carcinoma and CTU correctly diagnosed 20 of 20 cases of renal cell carcinoma(100%). CT urogrphy diagnosed 10 cases of congenital disorder (2 renal agenesis , 4 horseshoe kidneys , 2 ectopic kidney, 2 polycystic kidneys ) and 4 patients of infectious disease, emphysematous pyelonephritis. Conclusion: CT urography is exceptional in diagnosing urinary tract abnormalities, urothelial malignancies, Multiple infectitious diseases, renal transplant kidney &, renal injuries.