IVU (Intravenous urogram) or IVP (IV pyelogram)

An intravenous urogram (IVU) is sometimes called a intravenous pyelogram (IVP). It is a test that looks at the whole of your urinary system. It looks at the

• Kidneys
• Bladder
• Tubes that connect them (ureters)

The male urinary system

The female urinary system

The test uses a dye, also called contrast medium. This shows up the soft tissues of the urinary system on a normal X-ray. It can show if cancer is growing in any part of your urinary system. The cancer will show up as a blockage or an irregular outline on the wall of the bladder or ureter.

You have this test in the hospital X-ray department. It takes about an hour. It is quite usual to have this test done as an outpatient. Apart from a small injection of the dye, the test does not hurt at all.

After you have changed into a hospital gown, the radiographer will take you into the X-ray room and help you onto the X-ray couch. First, you will have some dye injected into one of your veins, usually into an arm. Before you have this, the nurse or radiographer will ask you about allergies or asthma as some people can be allergic to it. The injection may make you feel hot and flushed for a minute or two. But it is not harmful and this feeling soon disappears.

The dye circulates through your bloodstream and goes to your kidneys. The doctors can then watch the dye on an X-ray screen, as it goes through your kidneys and then through the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder (ureters). The radiographer will take X-rays as the dye passes through your system.

You can go home as soon as the test is over.

It can take time for test results to come through. How long will depend on why you are having the test but it may be a couple of weeks. Usually, a specialist in radiology examines the X-rays and dictates a report. The typed report and X-rays are then sent to your specialist, who gives the results to you. If your GP has sent you for the test, the results will be sent directly to the GP surgery.

Understandably, waiting for results can make you anxious. If your doctor needed the results urgently, it would have been noted on the scan request form and they will be ready quickly. Try to remember to ask your doctor how long you should expect to wait for the results when you are first asked to go for the test. If it is not an emergency, and you have not heard a couple of weeks after your test, ring your doctor's secretary to check if they are back.