Arteriographic Findings in the Various Stages of Renal Tuberculosis

Of 160 patients with genitourinary tuberculosis, 13 with renal tuberculosis were studied by renal angiography. Tuberculosis produces an inflammatory peri- and endarteritis characterized angiographically by an avascular renal lesion. From the earliest changes in the cortical arcuate and intralobular vessels to the later, more pronounced involvement of the larger interlobar vessels, the arteriogram defines the extent of renal destruction. A correlation of the findings on the excretory urogram and the selective arteriogram should enable one to make the diagnosis of renal tuberculosis, define its limits, and exclude neoplasm in the case of tuberculoma or the nonfunctioning kidney.