[The role of early nephrotomography in renal insufficiency (author's transl)]

The use of early nephrotomography has added a supplementary functional dimension to intravenous urography films, made after the rapid injection of 60 ml of contrast media in the form of an embolus. This method enables the corticomedullary junction to be visualized in the nephrography, which is an important point in differential diagnosis. An analysis is made of the results obtained from early nephrotomographies in 50 patients with acute or chronic renal insufficiency. Satisfactory nephrographies were obtained in all cases and the position and size of the kidneys could be established. Certain nephrotomographic abnormalities appear more frequently during the course of some types of chronic nephropathies, and this can assist aetiological classification. The existence of dilated secretory cavities in the superior part of the kidney can be established very quickly. In this way it is possible to differentiate clearly between parenchymatous nephropathies and those due to obstruction, such as when oliguria or anuria is present. The presence of a persistent homogenous nephrography would evoke, under these same conditions, an acute medical nephropathy.