sensitivity of ultrasonography in detecting renal cortical defects in pyelonephritic patients with or without vesicoureteral reflux

The presence of renal scarring has been documented in 5% to 15% of febrile urinary tract infections. The main aim of this study was to compare the value of renal ultrasonography and cortical scintigraphy with technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid [DMSA] in detecting renal cortical defects in acute pyelonephritis. Between June 2003 and February 2012 a prospective cohort study of patients aged 1 month to 14 years of age was conducted. Pediatric patients with documented urinary tract infections were evaluated with renal ultrasonography, voiding cystoureterography [VCUG] and DMSA scintigraphy. Statistical test was two-tailed and was considered significant when P< 0.05. The results of DMSA scans showed 70.2% of cases as being abnormal. Renal ultrasonographies were reported to be normal in 72.45 and showed mild hydronephrosis in 37.7% of cases, moderate to severe hydronephrosis in 40.62%, stone formation in 13.66% and scar formation or decreased cortical thickness in 8.2%. There was a significant difference in ultrasonography reports between patients with normal and abnormal DMSA scans [P< 0.012] but there was no significant difference in detection of scar formation between DMSA scan results and those of ultrasonography in our patients. Among patients with severe abnormalities on DMSA scintigraphy the percent of cases with vesicoureteral reflux was significantly higher than those with normal scans or mild to moderate changes on DMSA scintigraphy. [46.3% vs 26.9%]. We concluded that ultrasonography is a sensitive method for detection of renal cortical defects and ultrasonography can also predict the presence of vesicoureteral reflux in pyelonephritic patients

comparison of CRIB, CRIB II, SNAP, SNAPII and SNAP-PE scores for prediction of mortality in critically ill neonates

Clinical Risk Index of Babies [CRIB], Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology [SNAP], an update of the Clinical Risk Index for Babies score [CRIB II] and Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology - Perinatal Extension [SNAP-PE] are scoring devices developed in neonatal intensive care units. This study reviewed these scoring systems in critically ill neonates to determine how well they could predict mortality. This prospective cohort study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care units of Mofid and Mahdieh hospitals between March 2006 and May 2009. We evaluated CRIB, CRIB II, SNAP, SNAPII and SNAP-PE score for each neonate and the final scores were then obtained. The predictive accuracy of these parameters were expressed as area under the receiver operative characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. Of 404 neonate evaluated 53% were male. Primary diagnoses were respiratory distress syndrome, gastrointestinal obstruction, sepsis, prematurity, and neuromuscular diseases. The authors detected mortality in 20.5% and found a significant difference in scoring systems between survived and death groups. The mean CRIB score in survived neonates was 2.57 +/- 3.66 and in death neonates 8.43 +/- 4.66 [p value<0.001]. We also found that the SNAP score had the highest area under the curve and the highest sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and we had the lowest score for CRIB II. We concluded that the neonatal scoring systems could be a useful tool for prediction of mortality in NICUs and SNAP can predict the mortality better than the others

Diagnostic potential of urinary tumor necrosis factor-alpha in children with acute pyelonephritis

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] is an important mediator of the inflammatory response in serious bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of urinary TNF-alpha for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis in children. This study was conducted from March 2006 to December 2007 on children with confirmed diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis. They all had positive renal scintigraphy scans for pyelonephritis and leukocyturia. The ratios of urinary TNF-alpha to urine creatinine level were determined and compared in patients before and after antibiotic therapy. Eighty-two children [13 boys and 69 girls] with acute pyelonephritis were evaluated. The mean pretreatment ratio of urinary TNF-alpha to urinary creatinine level was higher than that 3 days after starting on empirical treatment [P = .03]. The sensitivity of this parameter was 91% for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis when compared with demercaptosuccinic acid renal scintigraphy as gold standard. Based on our findings in children, the level of urinary TNF-alpha-creatinine ratio is acute increased in pyelonephritis and it decreases after appropriate therapy with a high sensitivity for early diagnosis of the disease. Further research is warranted for shedding light on the potential diagnostic role of urinary TNF-alpha in pyelonephritis in children

Urinary lnterleukin-8 in acute pyelonephritis of children: a before-after study

The aim of this study was to assess urinary interleukin-8 [IL-8] levels in pyelonephritis and its relation with the clinical course of the infection and of inflammatory changes detected by renal scintigraphy. In this quasi-experimental before-after study, we evaluated 91 children aged 1 to 144 months [mean 34.4 +/- 35.2 months] with pyelonephritis. Inflammatory markers including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, leukocyte count, and urinary IL-8, together with the results of ultrasonography, voiding cystourethrography, and dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scintigraphy were evaluated in these children. The ratios of urinary IL-8 to creatinine [IL-8/C] before and after the treatment were compared with each other. Urinary IL-8/C levels were significantly higher after the empirical treatment in comparison with those before the treatment [0.19 +/- 0.21 versus 0.51 +/- 0.53, P < .001]. No correlation was found between the urinary IL-8 levels and leukocyturia, urine culture results, other inflammatory markers, or findings of imaging examinations. We found high urinary IL-8 levels in children with pyelonephritis. We also documented its increasing after the treatment. We conclude that evaluation of urinary IL-8 can be a noninvasive test for diagnosis of upper urinary tract infection and its response to treatment