Abstract
Background: In different tissues, the endothelin is produced by vascular endothelium.
They are potent vasoconstrictor peptides. There is a little information about the role of
endothelin in reflux nephropathy.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate urinary levels of endothelin in patients with
vesicoureteral reflux (VUR).
Patients and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study that conducted on 81 children who
received voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG). Based on VCUG reports, patients were
divided into two groups; with reflux (40 persons) and without reflux (41 persons). We got
a urine sample from patients with mid-stream or urine bag method. The endothelin level
was assessed with ELISA immunoassay. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.
Results: Based on VCUG reports, 40 patients (49.4%) had urinary reflux, of them 20 cases
suffered from unilateral urinary reflux and others from bilateral. Of 40 patients with
reflux, 23 cases (57.5% of reflux group) had kidney scar and seven individuals (17.5%) had
abnormal kidney sonography. Of patients with urinary reflux, 13 cases (32.5%) had grade1
urinary reflux, 8 cases (20%) grade 2, and 5 cases (12.5%) grade 3 and finally 14 cases
(35%) grade 4. The UET-1 levels were significantly higher in VUR patients compared to
the control group (P < 0.001). Comparison of mean endothelin levels between two groups
was done using Mann-Whitney U test and was statistically significance (P < 0.001). We
used Kruskal-Wallis for comparison of endothelin levels in different grades of reflux
(P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Urine endothelin-1 level can be considered as an alternative to VCUG for
screening vesicourethral reflux.