Pulsed Doppler sonography of the hilar renal artery: differentiation of obstructive from nonobstructive hydronephrosis in children.
OBJECTIVE
It is difficult to detect the arcuate or cortical renal arteries when performing pulsed Doppler sonography (PDS) for congenital hydronephrosis. This study was undergone to assess the usefulness of PDS of the hilar renal artery to differentiate obstructive from nonobstructive hydronephrosis.


METHODS
The authors performed PDS of the hilar renal artery in 80 normal children: 20 aged 0 to 1 months (group I), 20 aged 1 to 12 months (group II), 20 aged 1 to 6 years (group III), and 20 aged 7 to 15 years (group IV). Based on diuretic renography findings, 22 kidneys from 19 children with a ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) stricture were divided into 7 dilated obstructed and 15 dilated nonobstructed kidneys. The peak-systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), mean average velocity (Vm) and the resistive index (RI = [PSV - EDV]/PSV) were measured at the hilar renal artery.


RESULTS
There was a significant difference in the RI of the hilar renal artery between obstructive and nonobstructive hydronephrosis.


CONCLUSIONS
A pulsed Doppler evaluation of the hilar renal artery is useful for detecting an obstructive UPJ stricture compared with assessing arcuate or cortical renal arteries.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Chiba University, School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.
T
T
Okada
H
H
Yoshida
J
J
Iwai
T
T
Matsunaga
K
K
Yoshino
Y
Y
Ohtsuka
K
K
Kouchi
M
M
Tanabe
N
N
Ohnuma
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D006869:Hydronephrosis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007672:Kidney Cortex / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed; D014517:Ureteral Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014655:Vascular Resistance