Kidney Operation

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone elses child has had the kidney operation where they re-implant the ureters (that is the tubes that join the kidneys and bladder). Next week James (age 7 1/2 months) will have the stents removed that he had inserted at 2 1/2 months old to assist with drainage. After that they will be doing more tests to see if he needs this operation, I'm not sure if it will be one or both kidneys as he has hydronephrosis (fluid in the kidneys) in both, although it is only severe in the right kidney now, the left kidney has improved (thank god!).

James' ureters are also very large, so they will also have to be tapered in the operation.

Anyway if your child has gone through this operation I would like to hear how it went as I understand this is quite a common operation with a good success rate. But please not too many horror stories.

Thanks
Corr

i cant help you but im praying everything goes very smoothly for you.

I can't help you but i hope everything goes well for James.

Hi Corr

I have seen this done a few time and every time it was sucessful. It is quite a common proceure and does have a very high sucess rate.

Thanks so much for your reply Alan. I only know of one person who has this operation and it was unsuccessful and they lost the kidney, so it's so good to hear from someone who knows of operation where there has been a successful result.
Corr

Dear Corr

Is this also called renal pelivs dialation? That is what my little girl has. They told me she will probably need an operation once born to fix it. They told me the operation was easy and has a very high success rate.

Did they pick this problem up in an ultra-sound while you were pregnant? If so, can you tell me what the measurements where? (our little girls kidney was 14mm at 22 weeks, I'm going in next week - 36 weeks, to see how much more it has grown). I belive they opearate when it is larger than 10mm.

A friend of mines' son had this condition and they did not pick it up till he was 8 - he suffered 8 years of pain / fever etc.... he ended up losing one kidney, but they saved 85% of the other one... Now, he is a grown man with no problems - big & strong & healthy. We are so lucky to have such an advanced medical system to help us.

good luck honey and please keep us informed.

Hi Cee Cee,
Yes this was called renal pelvis dilation when I was 19 weeks pregnant.

When I was 19 weeks pregnant it was picked up my sons right kidney was 9mm which was dilated and his left one was about 4mm which was in the normal range.

My obs originally told me not to worry about it when I was pregnant as it was very common and that my son would probably have to see a paediatrician at 1 month old to have follow up tests and that he would send me for a follow up ultrasound just in case at 32 weeks.

But when I went back at 32 weeks they found both kidneys were large and dilated and thin. BUT please don't worry about your girl as I believe most of the time the condition improves as the pregnancy progresses, it doesn't usually get worse as in James case.

I am glad though that it was picked up with James as my cousin's child had this and it wasn't picked up during his mum's pregnancy and when he was a newborn he got very sick and by the time the doctors realised what was wrong with him it was too late and he needed a kidney transplant.

Another friend of my mum who is in her 50's also found out recently that she had this condition and she may also need a transplant shortly. They said if they had found out about it when she was a baby something could have been done then but now it was too late.

So this is a condition that is much better picked up early will something can be done!

To be honest, to date, if it wasn't for the ultrasound you would have no idea anything was wrong with James.

Good luck for your ultrasound at 36 weeks. I'm crossing my fingers for you but I'm sure eveything will be fine.
Cheers
Corr