Srinivasan Sundararajan, Biradar Arun, Keerthi Bh Parameshwar, Mohan Maghiben
Department of Radiology, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University), Kanchipuram, IND.
Cureus. 2025 Jul 24;17(7):e88666. doi: 10.7759/cureus.88666. eCollection 2025 Jul.
Pyelonephritis in its various forms represents a urologic emergency that can lead to significant morbidity and requires prompt diagnosis and appropriate management. While clinical assessment and laboratory findings remain the cornerstone for diagnosis, imaging studies play a crucial role in evaluating the extent of infection, identifying complications, and guiding therapeutic interventions. Computed tomography (CT) has emerged as the imaging modality of choice for evaluating the severity of patients with pyelonephritis, offering superior sensitivity and specificity compared to other imaging modalities.Through illustrative cases and a systematic approach to image interpretation, this pictorial essay aims to comprehensively review the CT imaging features of various forms of pyelonephritis, highlighting characteristic imaging features of each entity, potential complications, and key differential diagnoses that help in differentiating them from their mimics, thus enhancing radiologists' and clinicians' ability to recognize the diverse CT appearances of this common but potentially serious infection.
各种形式的肾盂肾炎均为泌尿外科急症，可导致严重发病情况，需要及时诊断和恰当处理。虽然临床评估和实验室检查结果仍是诊断的基石，但影像学检查在评估感染范围、识别并发症以及指导治疗干预方面发挥着关键作用。计算机断层扫描（CT）已成为评估肾盂肾炎患者病情严重程度的首选影像学检查方式，与其他影像学检查方式相比，其具有更高的敏感性和特异性。通过实例病例以及系统的图像解读方法，本文旨在全面回顾各种形式肾盂肾炎的CT影像学特征，突出每种类型的特征性影像学表现、潜在并发症以及有助于将其与类似疾病相鉴别的关键鉴别诊断要点，从而提高放射科医生和临床医生识别这种常见但可能严重感染的多种CT表现的能力。
