European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Prevalence of urolithiasis is increasing in modern society due to a variety of etiologiesand due to high recurrence rates. Though computed tomography is an imaging modality of choice to detect the calculus along with their number & location especially in ureter, susceptibility of its disintegration on lithotripsy, obstructive signs and delineating the roadmap for surgery in complicated cases but recently there are growing concerns related to radiation exposure especially in children, pregnant women, psychiatric patients and follow up cases. There is a recent interest in magnetic resonance urography (MRU) that combines the advantage of cross-sectional imaging &urography with simultaneous avoidance of contrast-related & radiation risk. Hence, we conducted a pilot study for evaluating the diagnostic ability of MRU in urolithiasis patients.
Materials & Methods: This observational,cross-sectional, comparative study was performed in the Department of Radiodiagnosis on 20 patients diagnosed with urolithiasis by 128-Slice CT scanner. MRU was performed on 1.5T MR scanner utilizing T2 weighted images in multiple planes. Data was recorded in blinded fashion and analysed using appropriate statistical tools & methods.
Results: MRU revealed an overall detection rate of 65% for urolithiasis but was able to depict the obstructive signs clearly even when the calculus was not visualised yielding an overall capability of 100% in predicting future course of action. The major limitation was in detection of calculus <6mm and those located in distal ureter or vesicoureteric junction.
Conclusion: Though MRU cannot replace the CT scan in patients with urolithiasis, yet it can be used as an alternative imaging tool to evaluate urolithiasis with a considerable degree of confidence & accuracy especially in predicting the future course of management in such patients.