Abstract

Objective: This study describes the patterns of etiology and presentation of bladder stones in children managed at tertiary facility in Kenya with an aim of highlighting the magnitude of disease.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of 20 patients with bladder calculi was done between 2013 and 2020. Data that was collected from the patients’ medical records included age and sex distribution; seasonal and geographical distribution; patterns of presentation and etiology.

Results: All patients recruited were male with a mean age of 4.85 years. There was no significant trend in the seasonal and geographical distribution of bladder calculi. Patients with acute urinary retention presented the earliest. Notably, the patients with hematuria in the background of lower urinary tract symptoms presented earlier than those without hematuria. The majority of bladder stones were primary in etiology (n = 12), However 7 patients had secondary bladder stones, resulting from Vesico-ureteric reflux (n = 4), posterior urethral valves (n = 1) and anorectal malformations with recto-urethral fistulas (n = 2).

Conclusion: This study reveals a general inclination towards delayed diagnosis in children presenting with bladder stones especially in the absence of acute urinary retention and hematuria. Additionally, congenital anomalies of the urinary tract should be suspected in patients with bladder stones particularly in presence of urinary tract dilatation.

Keywords: Etiology; Presentation; Bladder Stones; Paediatric; Urolithiasis; Kenya

References

1. Lal Bhamar., et al. “Childhood Bladder Stones-An Endemic Disease of Developing Countries”. Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad: JAMC 1 (2015): 17-21.
2. Halstead Scott B. “Epidemiology of bladder stone of children: precipitating events”. Urolithiasis2 (2016): 101-108.
3. Philippou Prodromos., et al. “The management of bladder lithiasis in the modern era of endourology”. Urology 5 (2012): 980-986.
4. Donaldson James F., et al. “Treatment of Bladder Stones in Adults and Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Behalf of the European Association of Urology Urolithiasis Guideline Panel”. European Urology 3 (2019): 352-367.
5. Soliman Neveen A and S Adibul Hasan Rizvi. “Endemic bladder calculi in children”. Pediatric Nephrology9 (2017): 1489-1499.
6. Ngugi PM., et al. “Urolithiasis in Nairobi, Kenya”. East African Medical Journal10 (2010): 395-399.
7. Njoka JT., et al. “Kenya: Country situation Assessment. Working paper. Pathways to Resilience in Semi-arid Economies (PRISE) project (2016).
8. Al-Marhoon Mohammed S., et al. “Comparison of endourological and open cystolithotomy in the management of bladder stones in children”. The Journal of Urology6 (2009): 2684-2687.
9. Wambui Winfred Muringi., et al. “Determinants of Health Seeking Behavior among Caregivers of Infants Admitted with Acute Childhood Illnesses at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya”. International Journal of Pediatrics (2018): 5190287.
10. Madani Abbas., et al. “Urinary calcium and uric acid excretion in children with vesicoureteral reflux”. Pediatric Nephrology1 (2012): 95-99.
11. Mahyar Abolfazl., et al. “The association of hypercalciuria and hyperuricosuria with vesicoureteral reflux in children”. Clinical and Experimental Nephrology 1 (2017): 112-116.
12. Adedoyin OT., et al. “Bladder stone in a three-year-old Nigerian child with posterior urethral valve: a case report”. West African Journal of Medicine 3 (2011): 214-216.
13. Acharya Himanshu., et al. “Posterior urethral valves with vesical calculus: A rare association”. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons 3 (2009): 115-116.
14. Méndez-Gallart Roberto., et al. “Urinary retention in an infant caused by a posterior urethral diverticulum lithiasis following surgery for anorectal malformation”. Urolithiasis2 (2014): 183-185.
15. Levitt Marc A and Alberto Peña. “Anorectal malformations”. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases33 (2007).
16. Schwaderer Andrew L and Alan J Wolfe. “The association between bacteria and urinary stones”. Annals of Translational Medicine2 (2017): 32.

Citation

Citation: Jumbi T and Lessan J. “Paediatric Bladder Stones in Kenya. A Single Institution Study”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 4.11 (2021): 33-37.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Jumbi T and Lessan J. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.