Comparison of the findings of excretion urography with ultrasonography in children

Abstract

A prospective study was done to compare the relative yields of Excretion Urography and Ultrasonography in 100 paediatric patients, of age range one day to 13 years. Children who were referred for Excretion Urography examination also had abdominal ultrasonography performed on them, and the findings compared, to assess the relative merits of these two techniques, in order to possibly determine conditions whereby one of the examinations may be omitted without loss of clinically useful information, and also where both examinations are required as being complementary to each other. The findings of the study are discussed by considering the main clinical groups and comparing the relative yields of US and EU. The commonest indication for EU was abdominal mass (41.5%) . Excretion urography and ultrasonography findings were equal in 44 (44%) cases. Ultrasonography alone was found to be most useful in the diagnosis of lymphoma or tumour inf iltration into adj acent organs, and excretion urography alone most useful in the diagnosis of urinary tract malformations. Both techniques yielded normal examinations in 19 cases (19%), of which the commonest indications for having EU done were disorders of micturition in 5 cases (26.3%), and urinary tract in 3 cases (15.8%). US and EU were found to be complementary in cases of abdominal mass, as this helped to establish whether or not the mass was renal in origin.