ABSTRACT
The anatomic and functional imaging evaluation of congenital anomalies and infections of the upper urinary tract have traditionally been accomplished with some combination of renal-bladder ultrasonography, diuretic renal scintigraphy with Tc99m-MAG3 or Tc99m-diethylene-triaminepentaacetic (DTPA), renal cortical scintigraphy with Tc99m-dimercapto-succinic acid (DMSA), and voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). The roles of both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric renal imaging have historically been quite limited. Until recently, the only routine exceptions have been for the evaluation of patients with trauma and patients with tumors, and for the assessment of patients with complex multisystem anatomic abnormalities, in which these modalities can provide clinically useful information that cannot be obtained noninvasively by other means, such as in those with complicated duplication anomalies and ectopic ureters, anorectal malformations, extrophy, and cloacal anomalies (1-4).
