Renal impairment in children with posterior urethral valves

Abstract

Posterior urethral valves (PUV) are a common cause of end-stage renal failure in childhood. Our aim was to describe a cohort of patients with PUV and to investigate the predictors of renal impairment. We performed a retrospective chart review of children with PUV who were followed at King Abdulaziz University hospital between 2002 and 2011. The cohort comprised 68 boys. There was a significant difference in the duration of follow-up (p = 0.024), nadir serum creatinine (p < 0.001), and last known serum creatinine level (p = 0.001) between the patients with and without renal impairment. The duration of follow-up appeared to be a significant predictor for serum creatinine doubling (p = 0.003; odds ratio, 1.8). There was no difference in the age of presentation, age at the time of the study, and first or last serum creatinine between children who initially had vesicostomy and children who had ablation. Ablation of PUV or vesicostomy did not influence kidney function in our study cohort. Children with a normal nadir serum creatinine who presented early had a better outcome.