Emphysematous, pyelonephritis: report of 3 cases.

Emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN) is a rare form of renal suppuration defi ned by the presence of pus and gas, or bacterial origin within the renal pa renchyma. It is associated with a high mortality in the absence of rapid an d effective treatment. Emergency nephrectomy constitutes the reference trea tment Percutaneous drainage associated with medical treatment is an alterna tive in patients with localized or bilateral lesions or in the case of soli tary kidney. The authors report 3 cases of EPN treated by percutaneous drai nage combined with medical treatment for a localized lesion in two cases an d nephrectomy in one case of disseminated multilocular lesion with an uneve ntful course in all three cases.