Obstructive uropathy in chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

On the basis of intravenous pyelography the frequency of ureteral obstruction was elucidated in retrospect in 140 patients with Crohn's disease and 88 patients with ulcerative colitis. The findings were related to X-ray examination of the gastrointestinal tract and to the clinical condition at the time of examination. 19% of the Crohn patients had ureteral obstruction, typically affecting the right ureter on a level with the linea terminalis. There was a close topographic relationship between radiologically demonstrated intestinal changes and a mass in the homolateral iliac fossa. There was no relation to duration or activity of the disease, urinary tract infections, surgery, or steroid medication. 14% of the patients with ulcerative colitis had ureteral obstruction of varying localization and nearly always arising after colectomy. Renal calculi were found in 13% of the patients with Crohn's disease and in 18% of those with ulcerative colitis. I.v. pyelography is recommended before and after intestinal resection in chronic inflammatory bowel disease to demonstrate the relatively common and often fairly silent urinary tract complications.