Correlation of Increased Renal Parenchymal Echogenicity with Renal Function Tests and Urine Routine Examination in Patients from all over Lahore with low Socio-Economic status

To evaluate the cause of increased renal parenchymal echogenicity in patients coming in our hospital set-up. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Life Hospital, Lahore over a period of fourteen months. A total of 115 patients both male and female, aged 12 to 83 years with the diagnosis of increased renal parenchymal echogenicity were included in the study and patients with normal renal cortical echogenicity were excluded from this study. The study includes different grades of renal parenchymal echogenicity, both males and females of different age groups and correlation with lab findings (Renal Function Tests and Urine R/E). Statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS version 22.0 and Microsoft Excel. Results: Renal parenchymal echogenicity was raised in 55% of males and 44% of females. The most common cause for increased renal parenchymal echogenicity was concluded to be Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)%; (with WBCs seen in 28% of patients, Blood seen in 25% of patients, Leukocytes seen in 23% of patients, RBCs seen in 22% of patients and pus cells seen in 3% of patients). Only 8% of patients were seen with deranged RFTs. Mean age of patients with increased renal parenchymal echogenicity was 32.4 years. Most patients presented with lumbar region pain, burning micturition and dehydration. Conclusion: UTI seems to be the main cause of increased renal parenchymal echogenicity in the patients we studied as majority of the patients did not have a normal urine report. Males were more likely seen with increased renal parenchymal echogenicity. As majority of our patients belonged to poor socio-economic status, so it was concluded that the main cause of UTI could be dehydration due to lack of availability of clean water and poor hygiene conditions.