[Computerized tomography in renal injuries]

CT scans were performed on 25 patients suspected of sustaining renal trauma. The utility of CT in both detecting renal damage and appraising the gravity of injuries was assessed. Nowadays, in fact, nephrectomy is reserved for lesions devastating the kidney parenchyma or rupturing the renal pedicle; so it is very important to identify both the kind of lesions, and the extent of the damage, for the purposes of a better planned therapeutic approach. CT does both, being more accurate than urography in the detection of renal fractures, intra or extraparenchymal hematomas and contrast media extravasation. Urography very often shows aspecific lesion patterns and sometimes it is also falsely negative. In the present series CT was more reliable than angiography itself, particularly in the diagnosis of extra-renal hematic collections, contrast media extravasation and injuries to the other abdominal organs. Although CT may arouse the suspicion of and sometimes correctly diagnose vascular lesions, such as renal infarction, angiography remains the choice examination in the study of vascular lesions, thanks to its characteristic and unmistakable images.