Chonnam Med J.  1998 Dec;34(2):267-273.

Value of MR Urography in the Diagnosis of Non-visualization of Kidney on Intravenous Urography

• Jeong YY
• Kang HK
• Chung TW
• Kim YH
• Seo JJ
• Kim JK
• Park JG
• Jeong GW
• Kwon DD
• Oh BR

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of MR urography (MRU) in the evaluation of non-visualized kidney on intravenous urography (IVU). MRI was performed in eighteen patients with non-visualized kidney on IVU. All patients were confirmed by operation, biopsy, and clinical follow-up. The causes of hydroureteronephrosis included : benign ureteral stricture (n=7), ureteral stones (n=4), and malignant ureteral strictures (n=7). MRU was obtained by using a fat suppressed, respiratory-triggered, heavily T2-weighted fast spin echo pulse sequence, and the 3-dimensional MR images were subsequently processed by a maximum intensity- projection algorithm. Two radiologists evaluated the image quality of MRU and the level and the cause of obstruction of non-visualized kidney correlated with that of direct urography. The accuracy of determining the level of the obstruction was in all patients. The accuracy in determining the cause of urinary tract obstruction was 89% (16/18). These results suggest that MRU is a useful diagnostic method for the evaluation of non-visualized kidney on IVU.

Keyword

Magnetic resonance (MR); Technology; Urography; Ureter; Stenosis; obstruction

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Constriction, Pathologic
Diagnosis*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Kidney*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Ureter
Urinary Tract
Urography*