Background:

The advancement of ureteroscopy, has altered the management of urinary tract stones. Many parameters, including stone size, stone placement, multiplicity, and Hounsfield Unit (HU) values evaluated by non-contrast computed tomography, have been found to predict stone free outcome. Furthermore, a lot of research have been conducted to determine the curative threshold of HU.

Objective:

To evaluate the usefulness of Hounsfield unit and density in the assessment and treatment of urinary stones in pediatric population presented with renal stones.

Methodology:

This is a retrospective, cross sectional study. Demographic details such as age, gender, positive family history, previous renal stone history and stone characteristics such as stone size, stone site, stone location, hydronephrosis, and hyderoureter were documented. Hounsfield units were recorded from CT data, post-operative stone analysis, stone clearance, duration of surgery and stone free rates were also noted.  For the link between proportional variables, Pearson correlation analysis was utilized. The HU cutoff value, which enhances the likelihood of being stone-free, was identified using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. P value < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant.

Results:

The mean age of included patients was 8.5 ± 4.9 years with range of 4 – 14 years. The laterality of stone location was reported as almost similar on both sides with 85 (%) on right side while 82 (%) on left side with insignificant p-value of 0.28. The association of stone composition and HU quantity dictating maximum require HU for CAP 4(%), COM 8(%) and UA + COM 6(%) compositions.

Conclusion:

According to our study results, the HU values can be used to predict a few stone compositions including AHU, COM and UA+COM especially in pediatric population.

Keywords:

Hounsfield units, CT KUB, PCNL, Pediatric renal stone