Diagnosis and treatment of 155 patients with renal tuberculosis

XU Zun-li; XU Li-wei; ZHANG Qian-xing; ZHU Jian-ping; MA Li-ying

Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of renal tuberculosis, so as to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of renal tuberculosis. Methods A total of 155 patients with renal tuberculosis treated in our hospital from Jul. 2003 to Apr. 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. Results Renal tuberculosis occurred mostly in patients aged 40-60 years old (47.1%). The patients with 3 or more than 3 common clinical symptoms were regarded as a typical group (94 patients), and the others as an atypical group (61 patients). The most common clinical symptoms included urinary urgency (62.6%), urinary frequency (60.0%), flank pain (54.3%), odynuria (51.6%) and hematuria (44.5%). Flank pain (49.2%) was the most common symptom in the atypical group. Of all the patients, 132 were examined by acid-fast stain, with a positive rate of 31.8%; 131 patients (84.5%), who had an ultra-sonography, had an abnormal findings and 59 patients (38.1%) of them were definitively diagnosed;137 patients (95.1%) of the 144 pa-tients, who had a CT, had an abnormal findings and 115 patients (79.9%) of them were definitively diagnosed. Surgical treatment was given to 123 patients, while 32 patients only received antituberculosis drugs. Conclusions The diagnosis of renal tuberculosis mainly relys on clinical manifestations, laboratory findings and imaging findings. CT plays an important role in making definite diagnosis. Early diagnosis of renal tuberculosis is difficult and needs comprehensive analysis. The surgical treatment is needed for advanced renal tuberculosis.