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Retrograde pyelography (RGP) is done to evaluate the collecting system when intravenous contrast studies are contraindicated due to renal insufficiency or prior adverse reactions. We report a patient who developed acute renal shutdown following bilateral RGP in the same sitting done for evaluation of positive malignant cytology of urine. A 65-year-old man on treatment for left stroke and hypertension, with a baseline serum creatinine of 1.9 mg/dl presented with painless haematuria for 2 months. Plain computed tomogram revealed a small papillary growth on the posterior wall of the urinary bladder. Transurethral resection revealed inflammatory atypia. As the patient continued to have haematuria, he was taken up for bilateral ureteric washings for cytology and bilateral RGP. A 5-Fr universal ureteral catheter was used to cannulate the ureters, urine was aspirated for cytology and 6 ml of 76% meglumine diatrizoate (1:2) was injected, and sufficient opacification with no abnormality or pyelosinus/venous or lymphatic reflux was noted. In the immediate postoperative period, he developed anuria and the serum creatinine rose to 3.6 mg/dl on postoperative day 1 and to 7.5 mg/dl on day 5. He needed three sessions of haemodialysis. Ultrasonography showed no hydroureteronephrosis. Urine output improved and his serum creatinine stabilized at the preoperative level of 1.8 mg/dl. The patient is doing well with stable renal function at 12 months. Although RGP is useful, it needs to be done with caution if a bilateral procedure is contemplated. This entity is seldom reported, and routine double-J stenting following unilateral/bilateral RGP also needs evaluation., Competing Interests: None

Percutaneous suprapubic catheterization is an alternative when placement of a urethral catheter is contraindicated or unsuccessful. We report the case of a 3-day-old newborn, who presented anuric acute renal failure secondary to placement of a suprapubic catheter. An excessive length of catheter had been inserted into the bladder and was obstructing the vesicoureteral junctions. Several measures can be taken to prevent this complication, such as systematic measurement of the length inserted into the bladder, use of a catheter with 1cm gradations or recourse to radiopaque material., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

We report on 3 infants with obstructive anuria due to bilateral uric acid stones. In all patients the precipitating cause of acute obstructive renal failure was choking of bilateral ureteropelvic junction with numerous small uric acid stones without cause pelvicaliceal dilatation. While the chemical dissolution therapy succeeded in dissolving the stones in 2 patients, unilateral percutaneous nephrostomy application associated with alkalization achieved dissolution of obstructing stones in the remaining 1 patient.

Four cases of a form of obstructive uropathy previously unreported in children are described. All presented with oligoanuria and either flank pain or fluid retention and had evidence of crystalline sludge in their lower ureters. Three cases had an underlying crystalluria.

This article concerns a case of anuria in a pregnant woman, apparently caused by compression of the urinary tract. The case is compared to the behavior of the excretory tract during a normal pregnancy. Four similar cases, taken from the literature are also discussed.

Four patients with no evidence of acute functional or organic renal failure suddenly developed anuria. Repeated ultrasonographic exploration failed to show any dilatation of the urinary tract. After 4, 5, 7 and 34 days of anuria respectively, an obstacle was detected, located and identified by ultrasonically guided antegrade pyelography, which led to immediate urine derivation by percutaneous nephrostomy. Three of these patients were cured by percutaneous techniques alone. These 4 cases represent a small but not negligible part of a series of 74 patients with obstructive anuria, 70 of whom had dilated renal cavities. They throw doubt not on the reliability of ultrasonography, but on the idea that all obstacles are associated with dilatation upstream. They also confirm that opacification of the urinary tract is the only way of making sure that an obstacle is present. Antegrade pyelography gives excellent contrast images and can be used as first stage of a percutaneous nephrostomy. The other diagnostic methods are fraught with a high proportion of inadequacy or failure.

A 20-year-old woman had 18 hours of pain and anuria associated with a calcium oxalate stone impacted in the distal left ureter. The stone passed spontaneously and the urine output returned. There was no abnormality of the right kidney on excretory urography. We believe that this is a cause of reflex anuria not previously described. Severe pain may be the initiating event in this unusual but interesting syndrome and mechanisms proposed by previous authors are reviewed.