children s health issues
Urinary Reflux
Diagnosis of Urinary Reflux
Voiding cystourethrography or radionuclide cystography Doctors suspect urinary reflux if babies or young children have a urinary tract infection that is severe enough to cause fever. Some children are brought to a doctor because they have a sibling who was diagnosed with urinary reflux, and siblings of children with urinary reflux are at increased risk of developing the disorder. In both cases, doctors usually do Ultrasonography of the urinary tract to look for abnormalities. If the ultrasonography results are abnormal or if the child keeps having urinary tract infections, doctors may do a more complicated test called voiding Cystography and cystourethrography . For voiding cystourethrography, a catheter is passed through the urethra into the bladder, a liquid that shows up on x-rays ( Radionuclide cystography is similar to voiding cystourethrography except that a radioactive agent is placed in the bladder and images are taken using a nuclear scanner. This test exposes the child's ovaries or testes to less radiation than voiding cystourethrography. Urinary reflux can be diagnosed only with radionuclide cystography or voiding cystourethrography. Urinalysis and Urine Culture also are done to detect an infection such as a UTI. 