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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Imaging
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1518713
This article is part of the Research Topic Outstanding Advances in Veterinary Diagnostic Ultrasonography: Novel Milestones in Disease Detection, Prediction, and Treatment View all 7 articles

Association of preoperative ultrasonographic parameters of the contralateral kidney with long-term serum creatinine in cats treated for unilateral ureteral obstruction

Provisionally accepted
Diego Pulido Vega Diego Pulido Vega 1*Jérémie Ficheroulle Jérémie Ficheroulle 1,2Mathieu Manassero Mathieu Manassero 1Jeremy Mortier Jeremy Mortier 1Christelle MAUREY Christelle MAUREY 1,3
  • 1 Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, Maisons Alfort, France
  • 2 University of Liège, Liège, Liège, Belgium
  • 3 INRA École Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA), Maisons-Alfort, Île-de-France, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Prediction of renal recovery after surgical management of feline unilateral ureteral obstruction (UO) is crucial in order to guide therapeutic decision but predictors of this outcome are still lacking. Despite the functional importance of the contralateral kidney, there is currently no precise description of its ultrasonographic (US) features. Additionally, US parameters of both the renal collecting system and the renal parenchyma have been identified in human medicine as prognostic factors in case of UO but have not been described in veterinary medicine. The aim of this study is to evaluate an association between preoperative structural US renal parameters and long-term International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) stage after successful renal decompression with subcutaneous ureteral bypass (SUB) device in cats with unilateral UO.Methods: This retrospective study included 60 cats with unilateral UO and evaluated preoperative US parameters of both kidneys, including measurements of parenchymal and pelvic areas as well as a renal score. Cats were divided according to their serum creatinine at 3 months postoperatively into group A (IRIS stage I and II) and group B (IRIS stage III and IV).Results: A higher US chronic kidney disease (US-CKD) score of the kidney contralateral to the UO was associated with long-term IRIS stages III and IV. It also appeared as a fair discriminator of longterm IRIS stage IV, with an area under the curve of 0.74. The optimal cut-off value for accurately identifying cats with long-term IRIS stage IV was a US-CKD score >7, with a specificity of 98%, a sensitivity of 25% and a positive likelihood ratio of 12.75. No preoperative US parameters regarding the obstructed kidney, including parenchymal and pelvic areas, was significantly associated with longterm creatinine.Ultrasonographic scoring of contralateral chronic kidney disease abnormalities is associated with IRIS stage following treatment of feline unilateral UO with a SUB device and serves as a specific indicator of cats presenting with long-term IRIS Stage IV.

    Keywords: sub, Ureterolithiasis, Ureteral Calculi, Kidney, Ureter

    Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 08 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Pulido Vega, Ficheroulle, Manassero, Mortier and MAUREY. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Diego Pulido Vega, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, Maisons Alfort, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.