Ten years of diagnostic ultrasound in renal disease

Observations with diagnostic ultrasound in renal disease over a 10-year period are reviewed. The advantages of diagnostic methods involving the least possible discomfort to the patient are emphasized. Ultrasonography is regarded as a reliable non-invasive method for the diagnostic differentiation between renal tumours and cysts. It was used by the authors for this purpose in 740 cases. Renal tumours were found by this method in 622, and renal cysts in 118 cases. Of the 740 patients, 726 underwent surgery. The preoperative ultrasonic diagnosis of renal tumour proved to be correct in 91.8 per cent, that of renal cyst in 88.9 per cent of the respective surgical cases. Ultrasonography also lends itself to the follow-up of polycystic disease of the kidney, being suited for its early diagnosis, as well as to its identification in the stage of renal failure when the traditional diagnostic methods are no longer practicable.