Hydronephrosis complicating aortic reconstruction

Prompted by an encounter with a symptomatic case, a study has been made of hydronephrosis complicating operations for aortic reconstruction. Twenty patients operated upon consecutively for occlusive vascular disease and undergoing reconstructions involving the use of synthetic material in the vicintiy of the ureter have been investigated by intravenous pyelography. The incidence of hydronephrosis in pyelograms after a year or more was 10 per cent of the patients and 5-7 per cent of the ureters at risk. Dilatation, when it arose, was always apparent in the immediate postoperative period, but half of the dilatations evident at that time resolved within a year.