The therapeutic approaches of renal recovery after relief of the unilateral ureteral obstruction: A comprehensive review

Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) as a clinical disorder can cause renal damage. The permanent injury occurs if the obstruction is not relieved. Renal injury can be reversed with UUO removal (RUUO). RUUO attenuates the renal hemodynamic and functional impairment and decreases the renal fibrosis and apoptosis. Nevertheless, kidney injury may continue after RUUO, and synchronous medication therapy seems necessary. However, UUO and post-RUUO periods are also important in final renal recovery. To date, various therapeutic strategies have been applied to develop renal recoverability after RUUO. In animal studies, the effect of some pharmacological agents such as mesenchymal stem cells, anti-inflammation drugs, L-arginine, bone morphogenetic protein-7, epidermal growth factor, allopurinol, renin-angiotensin system antagonists, and endothelin A/B receptor blocker were surveyed in RUUO model. Also, post-RUUO renal recoverability has been studied in human researches. In these studies, the effective strategies have focused on surgery for RUUO creation via urethrotomy, urethroplasty, stent balloon dilatation, and stenting. Accordingly, in this review, we focused on the therapeutic procedure of renal recovery after the RUUO situation in human and animal studies.