Renal vascular resistance in progressive systemic sclerosis: evaluation with duplex Doppler ultrasound

The study was planned to evaluate renal vascular resistance by means of duplex Doppler ultrasonography in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) with or without signs of renal involvement. Twenty-two female patients with PSS (mean age 38.5 +/- 17.3 years) and 20 age-matched (mean age 36.7 +/- 7.2 years) female healthy controls participated to the study. Doppler indices of renal vascular resistance--resistive index (RI), pulsative index (PI), and systolic-to-diastolic flow velocities ratio (S/D ratio)--were determined on main renal artery and interlobar artery. RI, PI and S/D ratio were found to be increased in PSS patients with signs of renal involvement as compared to those without renal manifestations and healthy controls (p<0.0001 for all groups). Doppler indices of renal vascular resistance were closely related to the duration of the disease, age, and plasma renin activity. Doppler ultrasound is a useful and informative technique in the monitoring of PSS patients with renal involvement.