Impact of surgical intervention on progression to end-stage renal disease in patients with posterior urethral valve

BACKGROUND: Posterior urethral valve patients present with varied presentations at any age of life and have significant associated morbidity and require long-term follow-up and care. METHODS: This was a single-center ambispective cohort study carried out over a period of 2 years. Patient data regarding the symptoms, investigations, interventions, secondary complications were recorded and were followed up regularly during the study till either normalization of their creatinine level which was maintained up to one-year post-fulguration (non-CKD) or progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal transplant. Various clinical factors were then compared between these groups. RESULTS: The age of presentation varies from 6 months antenatal period to a maximum of 34 years. Most common symptom was of lower urinary tract obstruction, followed by recurrent febrile UTI. The interval between disease presentation detection and PU valve fulguration ranged from 6 days to more than 5 years, median duration being 1 month. 85.7% patients had hydroureteronephrosis on initial USG. In VCUG, there was no significant difference found between the presence of reflux and poor renal outcome. Age of presentation greater than 2 years was seen in 52% of patients with CKD compared to only 10% patients in non-CKD group (significant, p value 0.02). Among patients who developed CKD, 60% of patients had PU valve fulguration after one month of disease presentation, while in contrast, among the non-CKD group, 80% of patients had it done within one month of disease presentation. (significant, p value 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Late age of presentation, delayed fulguration with high initial creatinine, and failure of serum creatinine to return to normal after one-month post-fulguration are important risk factors in the progression of the disease to ESRD. Symptomatic improvement after interventions does not correlate with progression to ESRD. The number of interventions also does not predict progression to ESRD. Interventions should be chosen wisely on case to restore near-normal physiology and delay progression to ESRD.