ABSTRACT
Vesicoureteric reflux and its renal consequences (chronic atrophic pyelonephritis) remained poorly understood until 1960. Children with recurrent urinary tract infections tended to be treated by surgical procedures to the bladderneck and urethra. Nephrectomy for recurrent unilateral symptomatic pyelonephritis was not uncommon. In 1960, Hodson and Edwards clarified the relationship between VUR and renal damage and stressed the importance of pyelotubular backflow of urine into certain papillae. In 1973, Bailey introduced the term ‘reflux nephropathy,’ and later Ransley and Risdon published an essential study of papillary morphology.
