“What caused my child's vesicoureteral reflux?”

Vesicoureteral reflux is a congenital abnormality due to an incometent ureteral opening (valve) in the bladder. Frequently length of ureter running into bladder is too short compared to its diameter. Reflux commonly runs in families, a child may inherit abnormality from parent & thus have a genetic component in the inheritance. Hence we often advise parents to get kidney & bladder ultrasound examination of siblings if & when they have a child with significant reflux.

Vesicoureteral reflux, or VUR, tends to run in the family but there is no genetic component as to date. Your son may have an abnormal ureteral anatomy that leads to VUR, or he simply has a voiding dysfunction, such as holding urine for a long time, which can lead to secondary VUR. A well trained pediatric urologist can determine the real cause(s). thank you

Can be genetic but most of the time it is an associated X-ray finding in the evaluation of a UTI. Most are low grade and resolve by themselves. Reflux is a very controversial subject.