when is pyelography useful?
Blood in the urine is common following blunt abdominal trauma. Most trauma centers routinely perform limited intravenous pyelography (IVP), usually with cystography, in such individuals presenting with any degree of hematuria in order to identify urinary tract injury. The observation that the yield of positive IVPs is small among such individuals, and the suspicion that a positive IVP rarely leads to a substantive change in outcome, resulted in the following retrospective study. We reviewed our Trauma Center’s records for all patients undergoing IVP following blunt trauma in a 1-year period. Virtually all individuals had a cystogram performed. Positive studies were defined by various kidney, ureteral, bladder, or urethral abnormalities; bladder deviation by extrinsic pelvic hematoma was not counted as a positive finding. Among 156 patients undergoing IVP for hematuria in this period, 13 (8.3%) had an abnormal IVP or cystogram. Of these 13 patients ten (77%) had either gross or 4+ hemat
