Fetal Uropathy: Postnatal Management And Outcome Of 100 Children At The Angers Hospital

Malformative uropathies diagnosed in utero are increasing in number. This work describes the decision strategy adopted in Angers concerning the neonatal handling of those abnormalities.Patients and methods. - One hundred children born between 1988 and 1990, with prenatally suspected fetal uropathy, were included in the study and followed for a period of 3 years. In every case, an ultrasound scan was performed at birth. In cases with persistent abnormality a voiding cystourethrography was done in the first week of life. An intravenous urograph and/or a nuclear renography were performed during the second month of life.Results. - Twenty-nine children were normal. Seventy-one were affected by 126 isolated or related uropathies; the most frequent ones were the ureteropelvic junction obstruction syndrome (48), ureterovesical junction obstruction (18) and multicystic kidneys (13). A vesicoureteral reflux was associated in 22% of cases. The diagnosis was perfectly correlated with the prenatal diagnosis in 50% of cases. Fourteen of the normal children had a later ultrasound scan control, between 2 and 9 months; later on, three of them showed a moderate ureteropelvic junction obstruction syndrome. Amongst the 48 ureteropelvic junction obstruction syndromes 22% have been operated on The others obstructive uropathies remained stable or spontaneously improved.Discussion. - These results require us to discuss as matter of priority the large number of spontaneously regressive prenatal hydronephrosis and the necessity to establish a consensus for the pre and postnatal pathological thresholds of the anteroposterior pelvic diameter, the interest in carrying out a voiding cystography after the birth when dilatation is confirmed the interest of nuclear renography for the diagnosis and follow-up of obstructive uropathies and the absence of urgency for surgery.Conclusion - We propose a decision tree specifying the action to take when facing [he diagnosis of a prenatal hydronephrosis. It could be a part of the reflection for the medical teams handling these uropathies in the aim of a consensual attitude which is now essential.