Spontaneous retrograde migration of mid ureteric calculus into the kidney: First ever report from India

Abstract

We present a case of spontaneous retrograde migration of mid ureteric calculus into the kidney. A 55 year old male, who presented with left flank pain, was diagnosed with a left mid ureteric calculus on ultrasound abdomen. X ray KUB and CT KUB confirmed the same. Intervention was planned as he did not respond to Medical Expulsive Therapy. On day three, he developed urinary intermittency followed by pain relief. We suspected the calculus to have spontaneously passed out and an X ray KUB was done to confirm it. To our surprise, the same calculus was seen in the kidney instead of ureter. A repeat CT KUB confirmed that the calculus has up migrated into the lower calyx of the kidney.

Spontaneous retrograde urolithiasis migration in a woman: a case report and possible mechanism

“…Although urolithiasis is a relatively common occurrence, fewer than 10 cases of retrograde urolithiasis migration have been documented once it has entered the ureter. The first documented case in English literature dates from 2015 in Bahrain, with a few cases in the Middle East and India documented afterwards [4][5][6][7]. Of the previously reported cases, only Fatallah et al reported relatively little distal migration of the urolithiasis before it was subsequently found to have migrated back into the calyx, whereas the other reports detail the calculus having migrated to the vesicoureteral junction before beginning its retrograde migration [4][5][6][7].…”

“…The first documented case in English literature dates from 2015 in Bahrain, with a few cases in the Middle East and India documented afterwards [4][5][6][7]. Of the previously reported cases, only Fatallah et al reported relatively little distal migration of the urolithiasis before it was subsequently found to have migrated back into the calyx, whereas the other reports detail the calculus having migrated to the vesicoureteral junction before beginning its retrograde migration [4][5][6][7]. The previous papers report intervals of 3 days to around 2 weeks between the onset of pain and its subsequent resolution, at which point it was assumed that the calculus had been spontaneously passed, as was the case in our patient, before it was discovered to have migrated to kidney [4][5][6][7].…”