Medical Questions & Answers

Question: We are very worried about our grandchildren who have kidney tract problems. Is this problem hereditary or is it due to the infections of the mother? Should they have more children?
Urologists are the surgical specialists    who operate on kidneys and the bladder, and they can now work wonders with children who are born with serious abnormalities of the urinary tract. Your granddaughter presumably had a blockage in the tube leading from one kidney. This tube has now been crossed over to the opposite kidney, and both kidneys now use a common tube to drain the urine to the bladder. Although this is a quite delicate operation, there should be no further problems, and she should be able to lead a normal life.
I am quite sure that the problems your grandchildren are suffering are not connected to their mother’s urinary infections. On the other hand, it is possible that the kidney problems are inherited. The actual chances of inheriting further problems is extremely difficult to work out, but a geneticist at one of the large children’s hospitals may be able to give you some statistics on the chances of a problem arising in future children.
As the abnormalities can usually be corrected, I can see no reason why your son and daughter in law should not have more children. Hopefully, further children may miss out on the slightly abnormal gene combination that has led to the kidney problems in the other children.

Question: I have a dull pain in both sides of the side of my back. I pass very little urine during the day, but lots at night. I have had blood and urine tests and a kidney x-ray which are all normal. What could this be?
Any pain in the loins at the side of your mid-back may be caused by a problem in the kidneys, but when it occurs on both sides, it is less likely, as usually only one kidney at a time is inflamed. If appropriate blood, urine and x-ray tests of the kidneys are normal, another cause for the pain must be sought.
Arthritis or other problems in the back can cause pressure on the nerves that run out from the back to surrounding tissues, and this may be the cause of pain in both loins. Other possible causes may be problems in the muscles, the gut or even the liver and spleen.
Passing excessive amounts of urine at night may be normal with aging, but may also be a symptom of other diseases such as diabetes, malfunctioning of the parathyroid glands in the neck, Addison’s disease and a number of other uncommon conditions.

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