Ultrasonography of the kidney and bladder

Office-based transabdominal sonography provides the urologist with a cost-effective and noninvasive means of imaging the urinary tract. A majority of ransrectal sonography units currently on the market can be easily adapted to transbadominal use with the purchase of one additional transducer. This will enable the urologist to sonographically determine post-void residual urine, rule out hydronephrosis, and follow patients with known upper tract disease who have already had radiographic studies. In contrast, the differential diagnosis of upper tract mass lesions requires a much more advanced level of training and experience.