Open Access  Subscription Access

Significant loss of renal function is objectively diagnosed with radioisotope renal scintigraphy. In many developing countries radioisotope study is not
readily available and the diagnosis of non-functioning kidney is often based on intravenous urography. We retrospectively reviewed the case notes of three patients that were diagnosed with ‘non-functioning’ kidneys based on intravenous contrast renal imaging but had salvage procedure for the renal
moiety. In the absence of radioisotope study, some restrain is advocated for nephrectomy, for ‘non-functioning kidney’, based solely on the result of
intravenous urography.