PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS AND POSTNATAL FOLLOW-UP OF UROPATHIES

Key words: Prenatal diagnosis, Ultrasound, Uropathy, Vescico-ureteral reflux, Congenital malformations

The Authors report their experience on 100 newborns diagnosed in utero by ultrasound as having some kind of uropathy. The concordance between prenatal and postnatal diagnosis was 53%. Prenatal ultrasound was shown to be a very sensitive tool for diagnosing cystic renal malformations and hydronephrosis but was not capable of distinguishing the obstructive cases from those consequent to vescico-ureteral reflux. At present, ultrasound in utero is not useful for programming a surgical intervention on the fetus with hydronephrosis or for anticipating delivery, but may play some role in planning adequate and timely postnatal diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.