DETECTION OF RENAL-ARTERY STENOSES USING MRI WITH SURFACE SHADED DISPLAY - INTEREST IN AZOTEMIC PATIENTS

Forty-three patients with renal artery stenoses were examined with tim e of flight MR angiography using maximum intensity projection and surf ace shaded rendering, and with digital substraction angiography. Sensi tivity and specificity were 0.83 and 0.78 for main and secondary arter ies, 0.87 and 0.84 for main arteries. In azotemic patients, the positi ve predictive value was estimated at 40%-70% and the negative predicti ve value at 95%-98%, while the prevalence of renal artery stenoses var ied from 10% to 30%. These results validate MRI for the detection of r enal artery stenoses in this population. Surface shaded display was mo re accurate than maximum intensity projection to reconstruct time of f light sequences and to grade renal artery stenoses.