Renal hemodynamic changes with aging: a preliminary study using CT perfusion in the healthy elderly

To investigate renal blood flow perfusion parameter changes associated with aging using multislice spiral computed tomography (CT).

This prospective study was approved by the institute's ethics committee for clinical study and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Forty-two consecutive patients who underwent abdominal CT without obvious renal abnormality at plain scanning were enrolled in this study. The renal perfusion scan was carried out using 16-slice spiral CT. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine the correlation between perfusion parameter changes with aging.

In both the cortex and medulla, blood flow (BF) and blood volume (BV) were negatively correlated with age, while time-to-peak (TTP) value and mean transit time (MTT) showed a positive correlation with age. Changes in BF, TTP, and MTT were found to have a statistically significant correlation with age in both the cortex and medulla, while the correlation between BV and age showed no statistical significance.

It is feasible to assess renal hemodynamics changes with aging in the elderly using the current clinically available CT perfusion imaging technology in vivo. It may be helpful in the management of aged patients to familiarize with the renal hemodynamics changes in clinical work-up.