INCIDENCE AND CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE OF LINEAR DEFECTS ASCRIBED TO INTERRENUNCULAR SEPTA ON TC-99(M)-DMSA SPET

Tc-99(m)-dimercaptosuccinic acid (Tc-99(m)-DMSA) planar and single pho ton emission tomographic images from 100 children were reviewed to ana lyse whether linear defects corresponding to anatomical characteristic s of interrenuncular septum (IRS) could be seen. Thirty sites in 30 ki dneys (20 right, 10 left) from 27 patients were determined as showing IRS. They were seen less frequently in patients less than 7 years of a ge. The prevalence of IRS in the patients with vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR) was not significantly different from that in the patients withou t VUR. The interrenuncular septum was never seen on planar images and was most clearly demonstrated on conventional coronal tomographic imag es. The linear defects ascribed to IRS on Tc-99(m)-DMSA scintigrams we re of a similar incidence to that reported previously. However, IRS is still an unestablished structure, and there is no evidence that these Linear defects actually correspond to the structure described as the interrenuncular septum.