[A method of determining separate effective renal blood flow by dynamic scintigraphy of the kidneys using...

The authors present a mathematical model for determining the separated effective renal blood flow (ERB) and a computer program which was used to determine separate parameters of the ERB in 56 patients including 35 with a unilateral lesion of the kidneys (20 patients with renovascular hypertension and 15 with unilateral pyelonephritis) and 21 patients with symmetrical renal damage (12 patients with chronic diffuse glomerulonephritis and 9 with essential hypertension). The patients with a unilateral renal lesion exhibited a significant decrease in the ERB parameters on the affected side whilst the patients with the symmetrical damage showed no significant differences in the ERB values. Following the surgical correction of the stenosing renal artery, the patients with renovascular hypertension displayed in the presence of a pronounced hypotensive effect a redistribution of the ERB with its increase on the side of the interference. A similar although less evident tendency toward the predominant increase in the ERB on the affected side was also observed in the patients with unilateral pyelonephritis. The patients with the symmetrical damage to the kidneys presented no redistribution of the ERB after the treatment.