Renal Disease in Pregnancy

Abstract

Urinary tract infections are relatively common during pregnancy and the puerperium, and sometimes the upper urinary tract and kidney are involved. Quite often urinary infection is asymptomatic and only discovered on routine urine culture. Discovery of urinary infection, whether overt or covert, is important since treatment lessens the risk of pyelonephritis which in pregnancy is usually acute and generally occurs after the 20th week. The risk is probably related to the physiological dilatation and reduced peristalsis of the ureter and renal pelvis which occurs during pregnancy and often persists for some weeks after delivery¹. The ureteric dilatation, formerly thought to be due to compression of the ureter at the pelvic brim by the gravid uterus, is probably an hormonal effect.