Assessment of postoperative perfusion with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in kidney transplantation

The aim of this study was to use contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to evaluate renal perfusion after kidney transplantation and investigate the clinical significance of CEUS in monitoring postoperative renal perfusion. Thirty-five patients who underwent kidney transplantations were included in this study and divided into two groups-normal and abnormal-based on their serum creatinine (SCr) levels. Conventional ultrasound and CEUS were used to monitor renal perfusion after kidney transplantation. The differences in the results between the two groups were then compared. Color doppler ultrasonography showed that there were significant differences in the resistance index (RI) and the pulsatility index (PI) of the interlobar artery between the groups. Furthermore, CEUS indicated a significant difference between the two groups regarding the slope rate of the cortical ascending curve (A1), the medullary ascending curve (A2), and the derived peak intensity (DPI1). CEUS precisely showed the characteristics of microcirculation in renal parenchyma after kidney transplantation. It also detected changes in the microcirculation, which was a new method of evaluating tissue perfusion in transplanted kidneys.