Renal vascular resistance in diabetic nephropathy: duplex Doppler US evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate duplex Doppler sonography to assess renal vascular resistance (RVR) in diabetic patients.


METHODS
Resistive indexes (RIs) and pulsatility indexes (PIs) were measured in intrarenal arteries of 144 patients with diabetes mellitus and 61 control subjects. RIs and PIs were compared for control subjects and patients with diabetic nephropathy and correlated with laboratory and clinical findings.


RESULTS
In control subjects, the mean RI was 0.595 +/- 0.033 (standard deviation) and mean PI was 1.001 +/- 0.105. Elevated RIs and PIs accompanied progression of nephropathy. Statistically significant (P < .001) correlations were observed between both RI and PI and serum creatinine level, creatinine clearance rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements, and patient age.


CONCLUSIONS
Doppler indexes reflect increased RVR in diabetic nephropathy and correlate with laboratory and clinical parameters, but RI and PI measurements offer no advantages over these parameters to predict disease progress or in patient care.
Department of Radiology, University Hospital Merkur, Medical School, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
B
B
Brkljacić
V
V
Mrzljak
I
I
Drinković
D
D
Soldo
M
M
Sabljar-Matovinović
A
A
Hebrang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012079:Renal Circulation; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014655:Vascular Resistance