title: Medical or surgical management for children with vesico-ureteric reflux?
abstract: A critical survey of the literature on treatment of children with vesico-ureteric reflux was carried out in order to create a basis for the new Swedish management policy. There are few studies that meet modern standards of scientific methodology and provide adequate patient numbers. The only large investigations that randomized patients to operative or non-operative treatment were the Birmingham Reflux Study and the International Reflux Study in Children. In these studies, long-term outcome of renal status and renal function, as well as the number of recurrent infections, were independent of treatment modality. Although pyelonephritic recurrences were less common in the surgically managed group, this did not influence appearance of renal damage. There is no evidence to indicate clear superiority of either medical or surgical management. Further studies are needed to address such questions as the optimal duration of antibacterial prophylaxis and the effect of a dilating reflux that persists into adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Paediatrics, Göteborg University, The Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jodal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hansson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hjälmås
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D014718:Vesico-Ureteral Reflux / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy*