Megaureter
Most children are born with a normal urinary tract. But in some infants the tube that connects the kidney and bladder gets wider. This can cause infections and block urine flow. If not treated, this can cause serious kidney damage.
Archived from the 2024 edition
Overview
The urinary tract is like a plumbing system, with special 'pipes' that allow water and salts to flow through them. The urinary tract is made up of 2 kidneys, 2 ureters, the bladder, and the urethra.
The kidneys act as a filter system for the blood. They remove toxins and keep the useful sugar, salts, and minerals. Urine, the waste product, is made in the kidneys and flows down 2, 10 to 12-inch-long tubes called ureters into the bladder. The ureters are about a quarter inch wide and have muscled walls which push the urine into the bladder. The bladder stretches or expands to store the urine until you're ready to drain it by peeing. It also closes the pathways into the ureters so urine can't flow back into the kidneys. The tube that carries the urine from the bladder out of the body is called the urethra.
In this entry
The archived page carried these sections, in this order.
- What Happens under Normal Conditions?
- What are Megaureters?
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Ultrasound
- Voiding Cystourethrogram (VCUG)
- Diuretic Renal Scans
- Magnetic Resonance of the Urinary Tract (MR-U)
- Treatment
- Open Surgery