Sonographically demonstrated thickening of the renal pelvis in children.

Thickening of the wall of the renal pelvis has been attributed to infection, to rejection in allografts and to non-specific causes by different authors. We reviewed the clinical data, imaging studies and pathology of 35 patients with sonographically demonstrable thickening in 41 renal pelves of native kidneys. Our findings are that less than 50% of the patients had infection. The others had a wide variety of apparent causes for the thickening which include obstruction, surgery, edema induced by chemicals and other processes. Vesicoureteral reflux was demonstrated in 50% of the patients studied by cystography. We concluded that renal pelvic thickening is a non-specific finding.