Abstract
Background: Acute pyelonephritis is a potential cause of kidney scars. Aim: To evaluate the relationship between clinical, laboratory and imaging data and the development of kidney scars in acute pyelonephritis. Methods: All consecutive patients hospitalized for acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis in our nephrology unit from June 1996 to June 2004 were considered: 58 females, median age 25.6 years (16–52). Diagnosis of pyelonephritis required parenchymal lesions shown by CT or NMR scan. Results: The lesions were bilateral in 17.2% (10/58) patients, unilateral, but multifocal in 81.0% (47/58); at CT or NMR, 65.5% of the lesions were classified as simple, 19% with tendency to colliquation and 15.5% abscessual. The median interval between first symptoms and diagnosis was 5 days (1–25); at referral, only 20.7% had a positive urine culture and 94.8% (55/58) had undergone previous antibiotic treatment. The therapeutic protocol required intravenous therapy for ≥2 weeks, followed by 2–4 weeks of oral therapy. At 6–8 months, the prevalence of kidney scars was 29.3%. Their development was highly correlated with the type of lesions at diagnosis (highest risk with abscessual lesions; uni- and multivariate analysis). No other clinical or laboratory marker (age, fever, positive cultures, levels of acute phase reactants, interval between onset and diagnosis) was correlated with the outcome (scars). Conclusions: The type of lesion at diagnosis of acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis is highly correlated with the development of kidney scars. Further studies are needed to test the therapeutic schedules tailored according to the imaging data.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Thiemich M (1910) Über die eitrigen Erkrankungen der Nieren und Harnwege im Säuglingsalter. Jahrb Kinderheilkd 72:243
Heptinstall RH (1992) Pyelonephritis: pathologic features. In: Heptinstall RH (ed) Pathology of the kidney, 4th edn. Little Brown, Boston, pp 1489–1561
Rosenfield AT, Glickman MG, Taylor KJ, Crade M, Hodson J (1979) Acute focal bacterial nephritis (acute lobar nephronia). Radiology 132:553–561
Hooton TM, Stamm WE (2003) Acute pyelonephritis: symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Up to Date 2003; 11(2). Web site: www.uptodate.com
Klar A, Hurvitz H, Berkun Y, Nadjari M, Blinder G, Israeli T, Halamish A, Katz A, Shazberg G, Branski D (1996) Focal bacterial nephritis (lobar nephronia) in children. J Pediatr 128:850–853
Talner LB, Davidson AJ, Lebowitz RL, Dalla Palma L, Goldman SM (1994) Acute pyelonephritis: can we agree on terminology? Radiology 192:297–305
Chong CY, Tan AS, Ng W, Tan-Kendrick A, Balakrishnan A, Chao SM (2003) Treatment of urinary tract infection with gentamicin once or three times daily. Acta Paediatr 92:291–296
Montini G, Murer L, Gobber D, Commacchio S, Toffolo A, Dell’Amico R, Molinari P, Ravanello L, Walburga C, Maschio F, Scorrano D, Zucchini A, Zanchetta S, Zucchetta P, Calderan A, Rigon L, Zacchello G (2003) Oral vs initial intravenous antibiotic treatment of urinary tract infections in children: a multicentre study. Nephrol Dial Transplant 18(Suppl 4):S816
Benador D, Neuhaus TJ, Papazyan JP, Willi UV, Engel-Bicik I, Nadal D, Slosman D, Mermillod B, Girardin E (2001) Randomised controlled trial of three day versus 10 day intravenous antibiotics in acute pyelonephritis: effect on renal scarring. Arch Dis Child 84:241–246
Levtchenko E, Lahy C, Levy J, Ham H, Piepsz A (2001) Treatment of children with acute pyelonephritis: a prospective randomized study. Pediat Nephrol 16:878–884
Vilaichone A, Watana D, Chaiwatanarat T (2001) Oral ceftibuten switch therapy for acute pyelonephritis in children. J Med Assoc Thai 84(Suppl 1):S61–S67
Kafetzis DA, Maltezou HC, Mavrikou M, Siafas C, Paraskakis I, Delis D, Bartsokas C (2000) Isepamicin versus amikacin for the treatment of acute pyelonephritis in children. Int J Antimicrob Agents 14:51–55
Meyrier A, Condamin MC, Fernet M, Labigne-Roussel A, Simon P, Callard P, Rainfray M, Soilleux M, Groc A (1989) Frequency of development of early cortical scarring in acute primary pyelonephritis. Kidney Int 35:696–703
Rushton HG (1997) The evaluation of acute pyelonephritis and renal scarring with technetium 99m-dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scintigraphy: evolving concepts and future directions. Pediatr Nephrol 11:108–120
Raz R, Sakran W, Chazan B, Colodner R, Kunin C (2003) Long-term follow-up of women hospitalized for acute pyelonephritis. CID 37:1014–1020
Hellstrom A, Hanson E, Hansson S, Hjalmas K, Jodal U (1991) Association between urinary symptoms at 7 years old and previous urinary tract infection. Arch Dis Child 66:232–234
Stokland E, Hellstrom M, Jacobsson B, Jodal U, Sixt R (1996) Renal damage one year after first urinary tract infection: role of dimercaptosuccinic acid scintigraphy. J Pediatr 129:815–820
Lin KY, Chiu NT, Chen MJ, Lai CH, Huang JJ, Wang YT, Chiou YY (2003) Acute pyelonephritis and sequelae of renal scar in pediatric first febrile urinary tract infection. Pediatr Nephrol 18:362–365
Warren JW, Abrutyn E, Hebel JR, Johnson JR, Schaeffer AJ, Stamm WE (1999) Guidelines for antimicrobial treatment of uncomplicated acute bacterial cystitis and acute pyelonephritis in women. Infectious diseases society of America (IDSA). Clin Infect Dis 29:745–758
Stamm WE, Hooton TM (1993) Management of urinary tract infections in adults. N Engl J Med 329:1328–1334
Milo G, Katchman EA, Paul M, Christiaens T, Baerheim A, Leibovici L (2005) Duration of antibacterial treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infection in women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2):CD004682
Scholes D, Hooton TM, Roberts PL, Gupta K, Stapleton AE, Stamm WE (2005) Risk factors associated with acute pyelonephritis in healthy women. Ann Intern Med 14:20–27
Naber KG, Bergman B, Bishop MC, Bjerklund-Johansen TE, Botto H, Lobel B, Jinenez Cruz F, Selvaggi FP, Urinary tract infection (UTI) Working group of the health care office (HCO) of the European association of urology (EAU) (2001) EAU guidelines for the management of urinary and male genital tract infections. Urinary tract infection (UTI) Working group of the health care office (HCO) of the European association of urology (EAU). Eur Urol 40:576–588
Levey AS, Coresh J, Balk E, Kausz A, Levin A, Steffes MW, Hogg RJ, Perrone RD, Lau J, Eknoyan G (2003) National kidney foundation practice guidelines for chronic kidney disease: evaulation, classification and stratification. Ann Intern Med 139:137–147
Coresh J, Astor BC, Greene T, Eknoyan G, Levey AS (2003) Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and decreased kidney function in the adult US population: third national health and nutrition examination survey. Am J Kidney Dis 41:1–12
Talan DA, Stamm WE, Hooton TM, Moran GJ, Burke T, Iravani A, Reuning-Scherer J, Church DA (2000) Comparison of ciprofloxacin (7 days) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (14 days) for acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis in women: a randomized trial. JAMA 283:1583–1590
Tomera KM, Burdmann EA, Reyna OG, Jiang Q, Wimmer WM, Woods GL, Gesser RM, Protocol 014 study group (2002) Ertapenem versus ceftriaxone followed by appropriate oral therapy for treatment of complicated urinary tract infections in adults: results of a prospective, randomized, double-blind multicenter study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 46:2895–2900
Bailey RR (1994) Duration of antimicrobial treatment and the use of drug combinations for the treatment of uncomplicated acute pyelonephritis. Infection 22(Suppl 1):S50–52
Vercellone A, Piccoli G (1970) Diagnostica della pielonefrite cronica. In: La Medicina d’oggi (ed) vol 2. Medico Scientifiche, Torino, pp 541–559
Soulen MC, Fishman EK, Goldman SM (1989) Sequelae of acute renal infections: CT evaluation. Radiology 173:423–426
Tsugaya M, Hirao N, Sakagami H, Ohtaguro K, Washida H (1992) Renal cortical scarring in acute pyelonephritis. Br J Urol 69:245–249
Lee BF, Chiou YY, Chuang CM, Wu PS, Wu YC, Chiu NT (2002) Evolution of differential renal function after acute pyelonephritis. Nucl Med Commun 23:1005–1008
Acknowledgments
Preliminary data on 52 patients were presented in a Nephrology Forum in Milan, Giornate dell’Ospedale san Carlo Borromeo, December 2003.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Piccoli, G.B., Colla, L., Burdese, M. et al. Development of kidney scars after acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis: relationship with clinical, laboratory and imaging data at diagnosis. World J Urol 24, 66–73 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-005-0044-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-005-0044-0