Can One Diagnose Distended Kidney Without Ultrasonography?

Posted on Mon, 12 May 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 12 May 2014 Answered on

Mon, 9 Jun 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Can someone be diagnosed with a distended kidney without seeing it via scan ultrasound? My husbands doctor told him his rt kidney is distended and he needs to see a urologist to determine if he has kidney stones.

Answered by Dr. T Chandrakant (48 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Certainly yes!

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for your query.

This is a very classical ''sign'' a Doctor can elicit on clinical/ physical examination.

This is called a ballotable kidney.
It is palpated with the help of both the hands and one put under and the other above on the abdominal wall.
This usually moves with respiration.
Yes, One can say on the proper clinical examination that there is a distended kidney even without ultrasonography.

In old times, when the ultrasounds were a rare or were not available, it was the sole clinical examination that decided about the distended kidney/s.

So please go ahead as suggested by the Doctor.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T