Renal scar formation in children with recurrent urinary tract infections.

Background: Reports of renal scar formation in children even in the absence of vesicoureteral reflux necessitates studying other causes of this major complication. The present study mainly focuses on the role of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI) in renal scar formation. Methods: The records of 53 patients with recurrent UTI and the data on their regular follow up visits were reviewed. Renal scar formation was confirmed by dimercapto-succinic acid (DMSA) scan. Results: DMSA scan, done at a mean age of 8.31 years, revealed renal scar formation in 12 cases (22.44%). Seventy-five percent of the patients with scar formation and 80.5% without scar were older than 3 years at the time of the first documented UTI. The etiologic organism was found to be Escherichia coli in 89.2% of the infections in the scar forming versus 78.8% in the non-scar forming group. Conclusion: In the presence of normal urinary tract anatomy, recurrent UTI can be a significant cause of renal scar formation in children.