The Relationship between Non-Renal Diseases and Renal Parenchymal Echogenicity in Children with Acute Abdominal Pain

Background Few results have shown that renal parenchymal echogenicity increases in pediatric patients with no concurrent renal diseases. This study aimed to investigate the relation between non-renal diseases and renal cortical echogenicity in children with acute abdominal pain.
Materials and Methods This cross- sectional study was conducted among 100 children referred to Amirkola Children’s Hospital (Babol city, Iran) with complain of acute abdominal pain during July 2015-July 2016. Patients with a known history of renal disease or urinary tract infections were excluded. All patients were examined with sonography. The parenchymal echogenicity of kidney was evaluated by comparison with that of liver and was divided into three categories: group 1, renal cortex echogenicity less than liver parenchyma echogenicity; group 2, renal cortex echogenicity similar to that of liver parenchyma; and group 3, renal cortex echogenicity greater than that of liver parenchyma.
Of 93 children finally assessed, 52 (55.9%) were boy; the mean age of patients was 6.45 years old. The diagnosed causes of abdominal pain included acute appendicitis (n=43, 46.2%), mesenteric adenitis (n=8, 8.6%), gastroenteritis (n=4, 4.3%), and invagination (n=2, 2.2%). Eighteen cases (19.4%) had abnormal renal echogenicity (equal to or more than that of liver). A significant relationship was found between non-renal diseases and renal cortical hyperechogenicity (p=0.03). After follow-up of 12 patients with renal hyperechogenicity for 1-2 weeks, all of them had normal findings in re-evaluation.
Conclusion The results showed that renal hyperechogenicity is a non-specific and transient finding in children with acute abdominal pain and in favor of disorders other than renal diseases.