CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Nephrology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1570638
Emphysematous Pyelonephritis: Eight case reports and literature review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
- 2Qingyuan People's Hospital, Qingyuan, China
- 3Xinyang 154 Hospital, Xinyang, China
- 4People's Hospital of Wuchuan County, Zunyi, Guizhou Province, China
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Objective This study aims to discuss and summarize the diagnosis and treatment of emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN). Methods Retrospective medical records review of all patients diagnosed with EPN from January 2017 to June 2023 in our hospital were analysed. A total of 8 patients (3 males and 5 females) were enrolled. The mean age was 49.38 ± 3.48 years. Among them, 1 case was complicated by sepsis, 2 by emphysematous cystitis, 2 by chronic renal failure, 4 by diabetes, and 5 by urolithiasis. Upon admission, all patients received aggressive antimicrobial therapy. Surgical interventions consisted of drainage procedures tailored to each patient's specific condition along with management for upper urinary tract calculi present. Clinical data were analyzed in depth and compared with the previously published studies. Results All patients complied with the protocol for catheter removal as scheduled and were discharged with complete recovery. No recurrence of infection was recorded during the follow-up. Conclusions Most EPN patients suffer from a severe and complex medical condition. Selecting an appropriate surgical drainage strategy can significantly reduce the rates of infection recurrence, nephrectomy and mortality, thereby improving the patient's prognosis.
Keywords: Emphysematous pyelonephritis, Individualized surgical treatment, Surgical drainage, Treatment of comorbidities, prognosis
Received: 04 Feb 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 DU, Yang, Wu, Peng, Gou and Liang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: JIANG DU, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
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