Urology intervention in children

Paediatric interventional radiology (PIR) is considered one of the newer subspecialities in clinical radiology. Although only a few centres in the UK have dedicated PIR units, many hospitals are able to provide a number of paediatric interventional procedures, this being dependent on local practice and referral patterns.

The first interventional urological procedures in children were published in the medical literature 35 years ago. They have evolved to become a fundamental part of hospital paediatric care. The majority of urological image-guided interventions are performed by interventional radiologists although some, such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy, require a combined approach utilising the skills of a paediatric interventional radiologist and paediatric urologist. Complex renovascular procedures, including renal artery angioplasty and embolisation, are commonly performed in specialist centres. Image-guided renal biopsy, nephrostomy and vascular interventions in adolescents are performed more widely across the UK. Children tend to be less co-operative and most institutions prefer to perform urological interventions under general anaesthesia, where the same procedure would be performed awake or under sedation in an adult.

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