Regional lymphadenopathies in patients with renal calculi: analysis with ultrasound and MRI.

Thirty-nine patients with renal calculi were retrospectively studied with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and an ultrasound (US). All patients were examined as part of a research project for imaging evaluation of complications of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. Twelve of the patients showed lymph node enlargement in the retroperitoneal perivascular space. Adenopathies were visualized by MR imaging but not with US: The presence of large lymph nodes was associated with urinary, renal parenchymal, or stone infection. When large lymph nodes are found in the retroperitoneal perivascular space in patients with lithiasis, urinary tract infection must be assumed as the cause of these adenopathies.