Renal infections in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Renal infection is a common occurrence in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and often leads to serious complications, including perinephric abscess, septicemia, and death. Important predisposing factors include age, female sex, and recent instrumentation of the urinary tract. Renal infections in ADPKD are most commonly caused by gram-negative enteric organisms. Diagnosis of these infections may be difficult since some patients do not have bacteriuria. Eradication of cyst infections with conventional antibiotic therapy can be difficult despite in vitro sensitivity of responsible organisms to the agents administered. We review recent studies of the anatomic and functional characteristics of renal cysts and discuss their possible relevance to the treatment of renal cyst infections. Finally, we set forth guidelines for the use of diagnostic studies, antimicrobial therapy, and surgical intervention for polycystic kidney infections.

Optimal technique of renal arteriography in living renal transplant donors.

Sixty consecutive living related renal donors were evaluated retrospectively with regard to the adequacy of their preoperative angiograms. Comparison of the original radiologic reports and the surgical findings revealed no errors in the prediction of the number and length of renal arteries of the transplanted kidneys. The optimal arteriographic technique is defined in the context of the information required by the surgeon: it is concluded that selective renal arteriography, although often advocated, is seldom necessary if the standard anteroposterior view of the abdominal aortic injection is supplemented by oblique and occasionally other views in selected cases.