emDocs - December 13, 2020 - By Christian Capanna
Reviewed by: Edward Lew; Alex Koyfman; Brit Long
"Take Home Points
- Renal and perinephric abscesses are serious, often missed diagnoses in the emergency department that are important for emergency clinicians to keep on their differential, as only 35% of renal and perinephric abscesses are correctly diagnosed in the emergency department.
- UA is not necessarily consistent with these infections unless the abscess involves the collecting system.
- Mortality of renal and perinephric abscesses can be as high as 14%.
- CT scan is the single best way to diagnosis these disease processes, but bedside ultrasound can offer a quicker diagnosis in some.
- Broad-spectrum antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment for all confirmed diagnoses and the size of the abscess (>5cm) will determine need for drainage.
- All patients with confirmed diagnosis should be admitted for continued antibiotics, culture results and urology consultation."