100 living-related kidney donor evaluations using digital subtraction angiography.
Intravenous digital subtraction angiography (IV-DSA) combined with excretory urography was used to evaluate the renal anatomy of 100 potential living-related kidney donors. Each of the 100 patients underwent subsequent nephrectomy to verify the number and distribution of renal vessels. For the entire series, 71 patients had bilateral single, 2 bilateral multiple and 27 multiple renal arteries on one side determined by angiography. Eleven patients required standard catheter angiography due to inadequate IV-DSA studies. Four patients who had a single artery imaged by IV-DSA were found to have an additional vessel at the operation. The overall accuracy of IV-DSA to identify the number of renal vessels was 96% (85/89). The sensitivity of the exam was 100% (94/94) and the specificity was 67% (4/6). It is concluded that IV-DSA combined with excretory urography is a safe, cost effective, and suitable method to image the renal anatomy of potential kidney donors. Thus about 90% of donors can be spared the risks and inconvenience of standard angiography, and the donor evaluation can now be performed on an outpatient basis.
D000328:Adult; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed