Qian Li, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Jicheng Lv, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hong Zhang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Yuhong Shao, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hui Zhang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Bin Wang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To assess the value of power Doppler sonography in evaluating the renal blood flow and its relationships with both destructive glomerular index and GFR in IgA nephropathy. 

Eighty patients with IgA nephropathy underwent power Doppler sonography (Acuson512, Siemens) and was followed with kidney biopsy within 3 days. Examinations were performed for all patients by the same investigator. Settings of ultrasound scanner remained the same throughout the study. Power Doppler amplification was controlled so that surrounding muscles did not display random color noise. Adopt the Matlab software to classify the color signal intensity of the sonogram into three levels and count up the pixels in each level. Multiply the pixels in each level by the correspondent level number to obtain the total color weighted pixels in the renal parenchyma. Then, normalize the total color weighted pixels by the total renal parenchyma area, which was called vascular index(VI), and add up the VIs of the left kidney and right one to get the total VI, and the total VI was always used in the subsequent analyses. GFR was estimated by the MDRD formula for Chinese. Analyze the correlation between VI and GFR, and classify the patients into 3 groups according to GFR, and then calculate the cutoff values of VI by ROC. Destructive glomerular index: assessing the severity of crescents and glomerular slcerosis by percentage of glomeruli (the sum of crescents and slcerosis divided by total glomeruli). Make analysis on the correlation between VI and destructive glomerular index.

The VI has high correlation with GFR (r = 0.686, P<0.01）, in which when GFR≥90ml/min/1.73m2, VI＞2.85 (84.8% sensitivity, 70.2% specificity); when GFR=30-90ml/min/1.73m2, VI≤2.56(68.4% sensitivity, 82.0% specificity) ; when GFR<30ml/min/1.73m2, VI≤2.34(98.0% sensitivity, 87.8% specificity). Moreover, the VI has high correlation with the destructive glomerular index（r = 0.712, P <0.01）.

The kidney VI has high correlation with the destructive glomerular index and the GFR of IgA patients, and may monitor the progression of IgA nephropathy.

Power Doppler sonography can reflect renal blood flow, and correlate well with destructive glomerular index and GFR of IgA nephropathy characterized by crescrents and glomerualosclerosis forming.

Li, Q, Lv, J, Zhang, H, Shao, Y, Zhang, H, Wang, B, Quantitatively Evaluating Renal Blood Flow by Power Doppler Sonography in IgA Nephropathy: A Prospective Study .  Radiological Society of North America 2008 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, February 18 - February 20, 2008 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2008/6016521.html