Correlation of ureteric jet characteristics with the degree of hydro-nephrosisand serum creatinine

Acute ureteric colic caused by ureteric calculus disease is a commonly encountered clinical problem. Ultrasonography is one of the treatment modality available in the evaluation of patients with acute urologic disorders. Color Doppler Ultrasonography is an advancement of the conventional ultrasonography in which the Doppler Effect is employed. It can be used to visualize "ureteric jets". The purpose of this study is to describe the usefulness of color Doppler ultrasound and serum creatinine in evaluation of patients with ureteric calculi.This descriptive study was conducted using 83 patients with calculus disease, aged 20-60 years. All the patients underwent X-ray KUB and color Doppler sonography with ureteral jet assessments and their serum creatinine levels were obtained. The frequency of jets, peak ureteric jet velocity and the duration of the ureteric jet in seconds was measured.According to the results, there were no significant differences in mean serum creatinine values among various degrees of hydronephrosis (p=0.510). There was a significant association between the ureteric jet status with the degree of hydronephrosis (p=0.001). Hence the assessment of ureteric jet on ultrasound, along with serum creatinine, is useful in the assessment of the degree of hydronephrosis in evaluation of patients with ureteric calculi.