Overview:
Normally, urine flows from the kidneys, down through tubes known as ureters, to the bladder. The ureters enter the bladder in such a way that urine can enter the bladder, but it can't back up from the bladder into the ureters.
Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is an abnormal movement of urine from the bladder into ureters or kidneys. Urine normally travels from the kidneys via the ureters to the bladder. In vesicoureteral reflux the direction of urine flow is reversed (retrograde).
In vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), the ureter doesn't grow long enough during prenatal development and it enters the bladder abnormally. As a result, urine can back up, or reflux, from the bladder into one or both ureters and, in severe cases, up into the kidneys.
The condition may improve or disappear as the child gets older and the ureters grow longer.
Vesicoureteral reflux may present before birth as prenatal hydronephrosis, an abnormal widening of the ureter or with a urinary tract infection or acute pyelonephritis.
Symptoms such as painful urination or renal colic/flank pain are not symptoms associated with vesicoureteral reflux.
Newborns may be lethargic with faltering growth, while infants and young children typically present with pyrexia, dysuria, frequent urination, malodorous urine and GIT symptoms, but only when urinary tract infection is present as the initial presentation of VUR.
