Quantitative assessment of blood flow in pediatric recipients of renal transplants

We applied a renal blood flow (RBF) quantification technique to pediatric data, which depends minimally on bolus shape, uses a conventional radiopharmaceutical 99mTc-DTPA, and generates a value for RBF as a percentage of cardiac output (RBF/CO). Mean RBF was 16.9% (+/- 4.8) for normal transplants, 13.1% (+/- 2.9) for transplants undergoing mild-to-moderate chronic rejection, 7.9% (+/- 1.3) for those with mild acute rejection and 3.3% (+/- 1.4) for those with moderate-to-severe acute rejection. Very low blood flow values within 24 hr following transplantation may have prognostic significance. Patients who required transplant-nephrectomy had significantly lower RBF/CO values than children who retained their allograft.