Birmingham Urology Clinic

This involves repair of narrowing or scarring at the junction of the kidney pelvis with the ureter (the pelviureteric junction or PUJ), performed through a keyhole operation. It usually involves putting in a temporary plastic tube (stent) to help healing.

Patients with PUJ obstruction may experience pain in the kidney area, urine infections or feeling of lump or bloating on the side. A proportion of these may be picked up incidentally on scans performed for other reasons. Although it is a congenital condition, it may not become apparent until adult life. Occasionally the blockage and therefore pain is aggravated by consuming alcohol which increases the production of urine and make the blockage more prominent.

PUJO is diagnosed by a combination of CT Urogram (a CT scan with injection of dye that is excreted by the kidney) and MAG3 renogram (a nuclear medicine scan performed after injection of a radio-isotope labelled by technetium99). These scans confirm the diagnosis of PUJO by demonstrating the blockage to the flow of urine from the kidney to the ureter (tube draining the kidney).

For further information please see the BAUS information leaflet