Renal damage after acute pyelonephritis

Intravenous pyelograms done before, during, and after an attack of acute pyelonephritis in a 41-year-old woman showed an increase in the size of both kidneys during the attack. The right kidney did not excrete the contrast medium during the acute episode. When function returned it became smaller, and three months after the attack of pyelonephritis this kidney was 1 cm. shorter than before it.