Bladder neck and urethral obstructions in childhood. Radiological study (review and personal case reports)

: In the first part the authors report a nosological review of the obstructions of the bladder neck and urethra in childhood and present the most typical radiological aspects of the most important obstructive uropathies. In the second part they illustrate their cases, that include 11 patients between 0 and 10 years, of which 4 males, with urethral valves; 2 females, with external urethral meatus stenosis; 1 male, with non valvular stenosis of urethra: 2 one male and one female, with extrinsic obstruction by ectopic ureterocele; and 2 females, with neurologic bladder. The authors point out the cases with obstruction by posterior urethral valves and by ectopic ureterocele, mainly for the severe hydrodynamic effects of low obstruction on bladder, ureters and pelvis; the authors present, in some cases, also later radiological examinations, obtained after surgical removal of the obstruction. The two cases of neurological bladder are presented in order to point out the difficulty of an exclusively radiological differential diagnosis between some cases of true mechanical obstruction and obstruction caused by neuromuscular disorder of low urinary tract. At last the Authors confirm again the usefulness, but also the limits, of the radiological examination alone in diagnosis of the obstructions of bladder neck and urethra in childhood.