Vcug

My daughter had this test at less than 6 weeks old. Its not too bad -- probably harder on the mom than the baby ;) I would bring something that's soothing to him like a blanket or stuffed animal. You will probably have to hold him while they do the test and it can be a little messy. Bring extra diapers, you'll need them.

T.;

I don't know anything about VCUG, but I'm sending prayers and good thoughts/vibes your way!

I hope all turns out well.

Pam

Oh I'm so sorry. So young to have to go through these things. My daughter had reflux between two and three years old - she is four now. VCUG's aren't too bad, mostly unconfortable, but for a 20 week old who doesn't understand I'm not sure how it will go. Will they sedate him? If so, it'll be much easier. Basically, they just put a tiny little catheter in their urethra and pump a bunch of fluid into the bladder - it's a special fluid that showes up on x-rays. They will take pictures the whole time and watch to see if the fluid goes back up from the bladder into the kidneys - it shouldn't do that - that is suppose to be a one-way valve. If it does, he has reflux and then they determine the degree - 1-5 on a sliding scale. It can happen on just one side or on both, so they will look for that as well. You'll be able to watch on the screen too which is very interesting. Let me know if you have any other questions and I wish you the best.

My daughter recently had a vcug. It is a simple procedure, albeit hard for mama to watch. They will put a catheter in him and put dye in his bladder. Then they will do a scan that takes about 30 min to watch the dye and see if it flows up into his kidneys. My daughter has a grade 2 in her right kidney. If he does have kidney reflux, the standard of treatment is to go on low-dose pro-biotic antibiotics (septra or macrobid usually) until it resolves, which usually occurs between the ages of 2 and 5. If you are not comfortable with him being on antibiotics for that long, there are other options you can ask your dr about. There is a procedure called Deflux, where they put a gel in his ureter to prevent the backflow (I am currently discussing this w/my dr as I hate the idea of my daughter being on antibiotics for up to 3 more years, she is 2 now), and there is a surgery they can do to install a valve that will prevent backflow. Both are safe, simple procedures. If he does have kidney reflux, he will have a vcug once a year until it is rsolved. I know this all sounds terribly scary, but it is not as bad as it sounds. Let me know if you have any other questions, or just need a shoulder to cry on.

My daughter had that as well. It is when they insert a catherder ( that is the hardest part ) and put a dye into the kidney to watch out it flows and then they let the baby urinate it out through the catherder. It is hard to watch the baby have to have the cath. my daughter ended up having surgery at 6 weeks to reattach the urter to the bladder but they were able to detect that through an ultrasound when i was 30 weeks pregnant.

Hope it helps. Some kids outgrow this and it is fine. The chances of getting UTI's later in life is sometimes more often .

Two of my daughters had the VCUG. One was about 3 months old at the time and one was 4 years old. It was much easier for the baby, since they don't really know what is going on. It is relatively quick and painless. My youngest does have reflux and only one functioning kidney, so that means she is on antibiotics to prevent kidney infections and we do have to be extra careful if she gets a fever and test her for UTIs or kidney infection. But most of the time it doesn't effect her at all. I hope it goes well and easily for you.

My daughter (22 months) has reflux. She had a VCUG when she was about 6 months old. Your son will be fine afterwards. It was just horrible watching the catheter being inserted knowing that it had to be done and I couldn't take the pain away. I would recommend taking your child to Dr. Anthony Atala at WFUBMC if at all possible.

Yes, my Meagan who is now 20 months old had to have this done when she was 15 months old. I realize there is quite a bit of age difference here, but it was relatively painless for Meagan. It was more simple than I had imagined. First they inserted a catheter, then slowly injected dye into the kidneys and watched as the bladder filled and then removed the catheter. She began to urinate (just on the x ray table on a pad) and they were able to see right there on the xray whether or not the urine was refluxing back into the kidneys. In her case it was not. I will say a prayer for your little one that all goes well during this procedure and for his (or her) over all health. Hope this info helps a bit.

They did not strap my baby to a board or anything. And I would not think sedation would be neccesarry, but I imagine the doctor would know best in that situation. From the amount of responses you received you can tell it is a fairly common prodedure.

My daughter Emily had level 2 bladder reflux. We found out when she was 5.5 months old. The VCUG is not that bad. It will be harder on you than it will be on your baby! They were able to tell us that day that she did indeed have kidney reflux. She was on a daily antibiotic for a year and never had another infection.
The good news is that now, a year later, the reflux is gone! She outgrew it just as we were hoping!
Good luck with everything....this is actually very common!

VCUG is a test where they will strap the baby to a board that kind of turns from side to side. They will then insert a cathetar and fill the bladder with dye. All the while taking x-ray pictures of the bladder, ureters and kidneys. My 6 yr old daughter had grade 5 reflux. Her urine flowed freely from her bladder to her kidneys (she has 3 kidneys). When they pull the cathetar out to allow baby to pee, watch the screen and if you see any dye moving upwards, not out, then baby has reflux. Depending on how severe it is, will help them decide what to do. My daughter was put on prophylaxis (low dose antibiotic) for 2 yrs and ended up spending a week in the hospital when she developed C-dif. A very dangerous condition caused by prolonged antibiotic use. She had surgery to fix her reflux problem 2 yrs ago and it was the best thing we ever did. Her surgeon was one of the best in the world, Dr. Anthony Atala at Wake Forest Baptist hospital. Feel free to send me a private message if you want to know more or want to talk about it.