Color Doppler Ultrasonography in Evaluating the Outcomes of Pyeloplasty in Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of Color Doppler ultrasonography for diagnosing post pyeloplasty elimination of obstruction in Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction patients. METHODOLOGY: Patients with the diagnosis of UPJO enrolled in the study and underwent open pyeloplasty. Three to 6 months after the operation, patients were recalled and underwent isotope scan as the gold standard test and renal color Doppler ultrasonography to assess the success rate of pyeloplasty. RESULTS: A total of 39 patients were evaluated and analyzed. The average follow-up time for patients was 9.1 months. The success rate of surgery in the study population was 100%. The mean RI of the affected side before the operation was 0.69 ± 0.01 and after the pyeloplasty, it reached to 0.65 ± 0.01. The difference between the mean RI of the affected side before and after the operation is 0.04 (P < 0.001). Age, type and severity of obstruction and the technique of surgery did not have any impact on these parameters. The difference between the RI of the affected and healthy side was termed ΔRI. ΔRI before and after the operation was 0.084 and 0.014, respectively. The decrease of ΔRI in the case of pyeloplasty is 0.07 on average (P < 0.001), which can be predicted for pyeloplasty success. DISCUSSION: Color Doppler ultrasonography can be used as a non-invasive, fast, non-expensive, and available modality for evaluating the outcome of pyeloplasty instead of the nuclear scan or IVP.