Horseshoe Kidney May Raise UTI Risk in Kids

Closer follow-up for urinary tract infection (UTI) and renal scarringmay be warranted for childrenwith horseshoe kidney (HSK), newfindings suggest.

Sevgi Yavuz, MD, and colleaguesat Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Trainingand Research Hospital, Istanbul,Turkey, studied 41 children with HSK(22 girls and 19 boys). The median follow-up was 48 months (range 12–120). 

The researchers found UTI in 17patients (41.4%) and renal scarringin 10 (24.4%), according to an onlinereport in Urology. In addition, 8 children(19.5%) had bladder dysfunction,9 (21.9%) had additional systemicabnormalities, and 7 (17%) requiredsurgical intervention. Proteinuriadeveloped in 6 patients (14.6%), complicatedhypertension developed in4 (9.8%), and chronic kidney diseasedeveloped in 3 (7.3%). 

“Children with HSK might be examinedfor additional urologic and nonurologicabnormalities,” Dr. Yavuz andcolleagues concluded.

From the March 01, 2015 Issue of Renal and Urology News