Assessment of ureteric diameter using contrast-enhanced helical abdominal computed tomography

Abstract

Abstract Background Assessment of ureteric size is imperative for diagnosis of urinary tract abnormalities especially with regard to obstructive pathologies. The ureteric opacification and distension obtained from contrast-enhanced computed tomography allows for differentiation from surrounding soft tissue and better assessment of ureteric diameter. Abdominal computed tomographic scans are commonly requested for the evaluation of the urinary tract, and we therefore aim to establish a normal reference value of the ureteral diameter using contrast-enhanced computed tomographic scans of the abdomen. Method With the purpose of establishing our local normogram of ureteric diameter, we did a retrospective study of archived images of 170 patients referred to the radiology department of a tertiary hospital for contrast-enhanced abdominal CT from January 2016 to June 2018. The largest transverse dimension along the course of the ureter beginning 1–2 cm below the ureteropelvic junction was measured at the delayed phase and obtained data subjected to analysis using SAS software version 9.3 with statistical level of significance set at 0.05. Result A total number of 340 ureters in 170 patients were analyzed with the mean age of 47.9 years (range 1.0–94.0 years) and male-to-female ratio of 1.2:1. The mean left ureteric diameter of all patients was 4.3 mm (range 1.7–8.0 mm) while the mean right ureteric diameter of all patients was 4.4 mm (range 1.5–8.0 mm). Ninety-five percent of ureters in our study measured 6.9 mm and less with no significant difference in ureteric sizes across gender and ages. Conclusion The mean CT normogram for ureteric caliber is 4.3–4.4 mm with no significant age and gender difference and 7 mm proposed as upper limit of normal.