Functional Ultrasound Study of the Upper Excretory Tract

Abstract

Ultrasound (US) is still considered one of the most valid methods for diagnostic and preoperative assessment of ectasia of the upper urinary tract. It has extremely high sensitivity (nearly 100 %) for the assessment of hydronephrosis, associated with a very low number of false positives, mostly lipomatosis of the pyelic sinus and parapyelic cysts, and an equally low incidence of false negatives, in cases of so-called intermittent hydronephrosis. The difficulty in achieving a functional type assessment is an important limit of US in the assessment of obstructive upper urinary tract disease.