Ultra Sound Results Showed Normal Corticol Thickness And Echotexture With No Evidence Of Hydronephrosis. What Does It Mean?

Hi,
The kidneys actually consist of what we call 'parenchyma' and 'collecting system'. The parenchyma is the structure which produces the urine while the collecting system drains the urine so produced into the appropriate channel which is the ureter and then on into the bladder. The collecting system is usually a lily flower shaped structure with a single stem. Once in a while, due to a very slight abnormal development of the kidneys in the phase of first 3-6 months of fetal life, the collecting system has two stems which drain different parts of the kidney. Sometimes the stems are long and drain separately in to the bladder while more often than not, they join together a short distance below the kidney to form the ureter. This is only an anatomical variant, and does not denote any disease. As long as you do not have any symptoms pertaining to the kidneys like pain in the sides or fever or recurrent urinary infections, you can comfortably ignore this finding on Ultrasound which is only a curiosity to the radiologists or sonologists or urologists.
If there was any dilatation noted on ultrasound, it would mean that urine from one of the stems is not draining well or is coming back into the kidney. This could cause trouble if the kidney gets stretched or if the urine gets infected in which case some intervention by urologist may be required.
Hope I have been able to clear your doubts.
Regards.

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The parenchymal integrity can be measured by the cortical thickness. If the parenchyma is thinned out due to swelling of kidney (which is known as hydronephrosis), the parenchyma gets stretched, and has reduced thickness. So a normal person can have a parenchymal thickness of 8 mm to 15 mm. If kidney has thickness of, say, 4 mm, we know there is serious trouble.
Similarly the echotexture - On ultrasound, the waves sent by the scan machine are supposed to get reflected back without causing a very bright shadow - this is the echotexture of the kidney. If the echotexture is increased, it means that the kidney function is likely to be impaired. Radiologists have graded this appearance based on which renal parenchymal damage can be anticipated.
So in your case, a normal cortical thickness and echotexture and no hydronephrosis means essentially a normal functioning kidney on the basis of ultrasound.
Regards.

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