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Could an echo contrast agent be helpful in identifying renal artery stenosis?
1Department of Clinic Medicine, Service of Ultrasonography Vascular Diagnosis, Chair of Nephrology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Background:
Diagnosis of renal artery stenosis using echo color-Doppler is subjected to several limitations. The aim of this study was to examine if the routine use of a contrast agent could be helpful in identifying renal artery stenosis (RAS).
Methods:
We analysed 35 patients affected by RAS using an echo color-Doppler coupled with a contrast agent. All patients presented arterial hypertension, with a good drugs control, and mean serum creatinine of 1.8 mg/dL. All patients previously underwent angiography. RAS was at the origin of the artery in 27 patients, at the intermediate tract in 8. All patients had already been submitted to a basal echo color-Doppler.
Results:
The contrast agent determined a significant increase in the average colour signal in all the subjects, and a better evaluation of the spectral waveforms, if compared to the basal examination.
Conclusions:
The results obtained showed that the contrast agent doesn't improve the diagnosis of RAS, especially in vascular origin stenosis, while it shows a real advantage in the intermediate or distal stenosis which are better visualized.