Caliceal clubbing and adjacent parenchymal scarring (always reflux nephropathy?) as a cause of end-stage renal failure.

Various clinical and laboratory aspects in 15 kidney transplanted patients with urographic evidence of caliceal clubbing and adjacent parenchymal scarring in their native kidneys are reported. These lesions were found in 16 per cent of our series of kidney transplantations; below 35 years of age it was the second most frequent disease. In 9 of these patients severe vesicoureteral reflux had been demonstrated. In the remaining 6 patients reflux nephropathy was only a tentative diagnosis based on a striking similarity in the radiographs and in several clinical findings. Nine patients had symptoms (mainly related to urinary tract infection) from 1 to 17 years before diagnosis/urography, in 5 as early as the first year of life. Recurrent urinary tract infection and renal impairment were the most frequent disorders leading to the diagnosis. Replacement therapy was initiated at an average age of 32.7 years. Following renal transplantation urinary tract infection was documented in 37 per cent of patients whether the patient had been bilaterally nephrectomized or not.