Assessment of variability of renal blood flow Doppler parameters during the menstrual cycle in women.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate variability of renal flow Doppler parameters during the menstrual cycle in young women, and to explore whether the parameters oscillate substantially throughout the cycle.


METHODS
The peak systolic, mean, and end-diastolic velocities, pulsatility (PI) and resistance (RI) indices, acceleration time (AT) and index (AI) of the right renal artery were measured nine times during the cycle with duplex sonography in 14 healthy women (age range, 23-25 years), and correlated with plasma concentrations of 17beta-estradiol and progesterone. Coefficient of variation (CV), interclass correlation (rho), and repeatability coefficients (RC) were used to measure the variability.


RESULTS
The measures of the variability for AI and AT were: CV = 45.4% and 37.3%; rho = 0.25 and 0.15; RC = 10.1 and 99.5, respectively. The CV for flow velocities varied from 24.1% to 25.5%, rho from 0.49 to 0.50, RC from 22.7 for end-diastolic to 63.3 for peak systolic velocity. The respective figures for PI and RI were: CV = 17% and 8.3%; rho = 0.21 and 0.29; RC = 0.53 and 0.15. Fluctuations of the flow parameters, hematocrit, hemoglobin, heart rate, and systolic blood pressure during the menstrual cycle were insignificant, while the diastolic blood pressure decreased by about 7 mmHg (P < 0.01) in the luteal phase.


CONCLUSIONS
The variability of renal flow Doppler parameters during the menstrual cycle in young healthy women is substantial. However, fluctuations of the values of the parameters throughout the cycle were non-significant.
Krejza
J
J
Department of Radiology, Bialystok University School of Medicine, Poland. Jaroslaw.Krejza@UPHS.upenn.edu
Ustymowicz
A
A
Szylak
A
A
Tomaszewski
M
M
Hryniewicz
A
A
Jawad
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology
D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol