[Unilateral effective renal plasma flow measurement using one-compartment analysis of 99mTc-MAG3 and gamma-camera...

The aim of this study was to establish a simple and accurate procedure to calculate the unilateral effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) using 99mTc-MAG3 gamma-camera renographyl. Eleven patients with urological disorders were studied with 99mTc-MAG3 to calculate the renal uptake ratio (RUR), which was defined as the ratio of absorption-corrected renal counts within 1-2 min after intravenous injection to injection radioactivity measured with a gamma-camera. We assumed that 99mTc-MAG3 was distributed in the circulation, moved from the circulation to the kidneys, and was excreted solely from the kidneys. We thus adopted an one-compartment model to calculate 99mTc-MAG3 clearance (CLMAG) using RUR. Sequential p-aminohippurate (PAH) clearance study was performed as a gold standard in all the patients to compare CLMAG and PAH clearance. Obtained CLMAG correlated well with PAH clearance, and this one-compartment model seemed appropriate for describing CLMAG. Unilateral ERPF was accurately measured within two minutes after the intravenous injection of 99mTc-MAG3 in conjunction with the renal imaging study. This procedure is simple and reliable, and requires no blood or urine sampling.