From donor to recipient - Doppler US, power US and scintigraphy of kidney perfusion before and after transplantation

Purpose. To follow kidneys from the donor to the recipient by assessing whe ther perfusion changes occur by using duplex Doppler US, power Doppler US a nd scintigraphy. Material and Methods. The prospective study included 12 donors and their co rresponding 12 recipients. For each donor, both donor kidneys were evaluate d by duplex Doppler US, power Doppler US and scintigraphy 1 day before surg ery. The same procedure was carried out on the renal allografts at days 1, 3, 5 and months 1 and 3 post-transplantation. Power Doppler findings were c lassified according to a grading system of 1 to 4. Resistive indices (RIs) were determined based on interlobar and segmental arterial how Peak systoli c velocity and RIs of the main renal artery were also measured. A perfusion parameter named the peak-to-plateau ratio was calculated. Statistical anal ysis was performed using the paired-samples t-test. Results: Intrarenal RI elevation and decreased renal artery peak systolic v elocity was observed in normally functioning recipient kidneys. Conclusion: Duplex Doppler sonography demonstrated that transplanted kidney s had an increase in intrarenal vascular resistance at 1 month and a decrea se in renal artery peak systolic velocity at 3 months post-transplantation. Scintigraphy and power Doppler US did not reveal any statistically signifi cant perfusion change in normally functioning kidneys from donor to recipie nt.