Introduction:

non-obstructive urinary tract dilation is usually transient; however, there is a risk of developing ureteropelvic stricture (UPS).

Objective:

to compare urinary levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), and cystatin C between patients with urinary tract obstruction (UTO) or non-obstructive upper urinary tract dilation (UTD).

Material and methods:

a cross-sectional study was conducted with patients aged < 18 years with OTU and DTU secondary to UPS. Statistical analysis: the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare urinary biomarker levels between the two study groups.

Results:

twenty-two patients were studied (18 with OTU and 4 with DTU); the majority were male (n = 16). The median age was 4.7 months. NGAL values ​​in the OTU group had a median of 103.75 ng/mgCr, which was significantly higher than those in the DTU group (16.71 ng/mgCr), p = 0.049. The median KIM-1 values ​​were 2.11 ng/mgCr and 2.29 ng/mgCr, respectively (p = 0.829). Finally, for cystatin C the medians were 12.34 ng/mgCr and 6.40 ng/mgCr, but with no statistical difference (p = 0.307).

Conclusions:

in patients with UPS, NGAL appears to be a useful biomarker to differentiate patients with obstruction from those with non-obstructive dilation.

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