What department to see for hydronephrosis?

Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
Updated on September 10, 2024
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Patients with hydronephrosis should visit the urology department of a formal hospital, because the conditions causing hydronephrosis are often surgical in nature. The most common cause is urological stones, which block the ureter or the bladder opening, causing urine to accumulate within the urinary system and leading to hydronephrosis. Additionally, patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia may also experience this condition. Tumors in the urinary system may compress the ureter and cause hydronephrosis. Some patients have congenital deformities of the ureter, where changes in the anatomical structure can lead to hydronephrosis. In summary, these conditions often require surgical treatment, thus necessitating consultation at a formal hospital's urology department.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Is hydronephrosis with hematuria serious?

Whether hematuria in patients with hydronephrosis is serious cannot actually be determined by the amount of blood in the urine. It is important to identify the cause and assess kidney function, because hydronephrosis can lead to serious consequences, mainly kidney failure. If the hydronephrosis persists for a long time, it can compress the renal cortex and cause kidney shrinkage, leading to chronic kidney failure. The dangers of hematuria mainly include: first, it may cause significant bleeding, leading to anemia. Second, this type of hematuria could be caused by certain conditions, such as bleeding caused by a tumor in the urinary system, which is quite serious. Whereas bleeding caused by urinary tract infections or urinary system stones, in terms of the nature of the cause, is not considered very serious. However, significant bleeding can also lead to severe anemia and even shock, which would be more serious.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Hydronephrosis should see which department?

Hydronephrosis should be treated at a formal hospital's department of urology. Hydronephrosis is due to some factor causing urinary tract obstruction, potentially seen in urological conditions such as stones, tumors, congenital abnormalities of the ureter, and other causes. These lead to the kidney producing urine that cannot be properly expelled. Dealing with this condition often requires intervention by the urology department, as hydronephrosis typically necessitates surgery. In early stages, patients may need to adopt corresponding methods to address the specific causes. For instance, patients with stones might need extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, and open surgery might also be necessary; deformities of the ureter might need corrective surgery. These surgical treatments need to be performed in the urology department.

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Nephrology
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What should I do about hydronephrosis?

Hydronephrosis is merely a consequence of urinary system diseases, indicating that the urine produced by the kidneys cannot be normally transported through the ureter to the bladder due to narrowing, adhesion, scarring, or obstruction somewhere. This causes the urine to accumulate in the renal pelvis and calyces. Therefore, the treatment of this disease requires identifying the cause, and then selecting a surgical treatment plan based on the situation. For instance, urinary system stones can cause hydronephrosis, and patients might need extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or open surgery for stone removal. Tumors in the urinary system can lead to hydronephrosis, and prostate hyperplasia can also cause similar symptoms, necessitating open surgery to resolve the obstruction. Some patients have congenital abnormalities, adhesions, or scars in the ureter, which might require surgical corrections of the ureter.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Is hydronephrosis serious?

Whether the condition of hydronephrosis is serious depends on various factors such as the duration of hydronephrosis, the cause, the extent of fluid accumulation, and more. For example, some patients may have mild hydronephrosis in only one kidney and it may have developed recently; generally, this condition is not very serious. Some patients might have urinary obstructions caused by urinary system stones, and the issue could be resolved using extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or surgical stone removal, making the condition not serious. However, in some cases, the cause could be bladder cancer or a tumor near the urinary system compressing the ureter, and if the tumor is difficult to remove, the hydronephrosis might be hard to manage. Long-term fluid accumulation might lead to kidney failure, and these scenarios are considered quite serious.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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How is hydronephrosis caused?

The causes of hydronephrosis can be divided into congenital, acquired, and external factors. Among these, acquired causes are the most common, primarily referring to obstructions in the urinary tract, such as stones that block the ureter, leading to hydronephrosis, inflammation, or ischemic damage. Scarring of the ureter can also result in hydronephrosis. Tumors or polyps in the renal pelvis and ureter may also cause obstructions leading to fluid accumulation. External causes mainly include diseases of retroperitoneal organs, such as abscesses, bleeding, tumors in the retroperitoneum, and pelvic tumors, like rectal cancer. Congenital causes mainly involve intrinsic narrowing of the ureter, ectopic vessels causing compression, and high insertion of the ureter, which are less common.