Imaging in children and adolescents with urinary tract infections

Abstract

Urinary tract infections are among the most common infectious diseases in childhood. The task of imaging is to detect predisposing factors, such as urinary transport disorders, vesicoureteral reflux, as well as complications such as abscesses or pyonephrosis in addition to possible morphological changes of the kidneys and the draining urinary tract during an infection. The initial diagnostic imaging technique is generally sonography. For the diagnosis of vesicoureteral reflux, voiding urosonography or alternatively radiological voiding cystourethrography are used. Further diagnostic workup may include scintigraphy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or, in exceptional cases, computed tomography (CT). In children and adolescents, it is of particular importance to avoid recurrent urinary tract infections and their sequelae. This requires precise imaging diagnostics, which must be performed with special consideration of radiation protection.