Abstract
Forty patients who were disabled due to a traumatic injury of the spinal cord and who carried an indwelling catheter at the beginning of their treatment were examined to determine the existence and significance of the dilatation of the upper urinary tract. A comparative study of past and present X-rays revealed that 30 per cent. of the research population were found to exhibit pyelocaliectasis. Narrowing of the renal parenchyma accompanied this condition. Total paralysis and a four-year duration of the illness appeared to predispose the patients to pyelocaliectasis. This radiological state can be considered to be a precursor of pyelonephritis. This study showed that the anatomical substratum of this reontgenological sign is part of a reversible process which could be the result of either bacteriuria or bladder outflow obstruction. It also points to the probability that this process, no matter what its cause, could lead to renal insufficiency and death when not reversed.
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Najenson, T., Mendelson, L., Sabransky, H. et al. Upper urinary tract in patients after traumatic spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 7, 85–96 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1969.16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1969.16