The Place of Ultrasound in Renal Medicine

Today, ultrasound is one of the most commonly used diagnostic tools, the reasons being that it is non-invasive, reliable, widely available, and affordable. In this paper, we review the place of ultrasound in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with kidney diseases. We briefly discuss a wide range of kidney diseases for which ultrasound imaging is still performed as one of the initial steps of diagnosis. To achieve this, five following categories are addressed: congenital anomalies of the kidney; renal cystic diseases; renal infections; kidney stones; and kidney tumors. The sonographic findings of these diseases are discussed.