Correspondence Address:
Vatsala D Trivedi Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Mumbai - 400 022 India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
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Objective: To review the incidence, nature and importance of calcification in urinary tract tuberculosis.
Method: The cases of urinary tract tuberculosis from Jan. 1995 to June 1998 were reviewed. 10 out of 32 patients showed evidence of calcification with the incidence of 31.2%. All the patients had renal parenchymal calcification with two cases associated with ureteral calcification.
Results: We performed nephroureterectomy in 4 cases who had putty kidney. 2 patients were subjected for polar nephrectomy, 1 for showing increase in size on follow-up and the other for associated destruction of polar parenchyma. One of these patients showed evidence of active tuberculosis on histopathology. 4 patients with small areas of calcification are being followed with yearly x-ray.
Conclusion: Calcification in urinary tract tuberculosis can increase in size leading to destruction of parenchyma even on treatment. It may also be associated with active tuberculosis. Hence patients should be treated with surgery or followed up intensely with the aim of retaining as much of parenchyma as possible.
