Hydrodynamics of the renal pelvis

Struthers, Norman W (1963) Hydrodynamics of the renal pelvis. Ch.M thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Considerable differences exist in the findings of workers who have studied the hydrodynamics of the renal pelvis. By some woodside 1944 the pelvis is regarded as pump, whilst others tiil 1957 have suggested that it functions as a relatively inert reservoir. There is, therefore, no agreement about the part played by the renal pelvis in the transport of urine. In strict anatomical terms the renal pelvic of the clinician, is described as the "pelvis of the ureter" (Cunningham 1943, Cray 1962), as morphological and histological evidence indicate that the pelvis is a part of the ureter. Urological usage, however, has not followed this precept and as this term, "renal pelvis" has gained general acceptance, it has been used throughout the text. There has been a paucity of studies on the hydrodynamics of the renal pelvis, possibly because the pelvis is not easily accessible for studies of function, and because, until the 1950's only water manometers were available for measuring intrapelvic pressures. Water manometers record fluid displacent of relatively large volume and so cannot aceurately measure the pressure changes associated with the transport of small volume of urine in the upper urinary tract. The mere refined manometers. Developed for cardiovascular research, were first used to measure pressures in the renal pelvis in man by kill 1953. As pressures were measured through small ureteric catheters connected to stathan physiological pressure transducers the problems of fluid displacement were overcome, but the question of whether the indwelling ureteric catheter seriously distorted ureteric dynamics has not been satisfactorily answered. Kiil believed that, provided the ureteric catheters were small, there was no significant obstruction to urine flow, as he had found that pressures in the renal pelvis were low and did not increase with prolonged periods of recording. However, other workers (rattner, fink and murphy 1957) using similar methods have recorded very much higher pressures in the renal pelvis. It is important that accurate pressures are obtained from the renal pelvis as these will provide information about the emptying mechanism of the renal pelvis and possibly contribute to an understanding of the aetiology of some types of hydronephrosis. It therefore seemed desirable that an attempt should be made to measure interapelvic pressures by a method which could not interfere with ureteric dynamics. An examination of the anatomy of the pelvis suggested that this difficulty could be overcome by inserting a manometric tube through the renal parenchyma into the pelvis. This method would not, of course be suitable for measuring pelvic pressures in man, but could be used in the dog. In this thesis, studies are describe on pelvic pressures recorded through "permanent" manometric nephrostomy tubes in the dog. To obtain the fullest possible knowledge, pelvic pressures were measured systematically throught a range of urine flow rates up to maximum diuresis, and other possible factors affecting pelvic pressures were also examined. In this way, it seemed possible that more information would be gained about the pressures in the renal pelvis and hence about its orle in the transport of urine.

• Item Type: Thesis (Ch.M)
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Additional Information: Adviser: P D Ritchie
• Keywords: Physiology
• Date of Award: 1963
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1963-73192
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73192