Renal advances in ultrasound elasticity imaging: measuring the compliance of arteries and kidneys in end-stage renal disease.
OBJECTIVE
Ultrasound elasticity imaging visually represents tissue hardness measurements using high-resolution ultrasound speckle-tracking algorithms. This method has recently been applied in the renal setting to measure arterial compliance in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the mechanical properties of transplant kidneys in vivo.


METHODS
Ultrasound radio-frequency signal measurements were made of the brachial artery in 5 ESRD subjects and 5 healthy controls and renal transplant measurements in 2 subjects, 1 with chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) and 1 with normal graft function.


RESULTS
Maximal brachial artery percent strain measurements for healthy controls were 32.9 +/- 10.2% (mean +/- SD) and for ESRD subjects maximal percent strains were 4.9 +/- 1.8%. Transplant renal cortical strain for the subject with CAN was approximately one third that of the healthy transplant recipient.


CONCLUSIONS
Ultrasound elasticity imaging offers the potential to noninvasively measure the mechanical properties of structures within the body.
Weitzel
W F
WF
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. weitzel@umich.edu
Kim
K
K
Rubin
J M
JM
Xie
H
H
O'Donnell
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D014463:Ultrasonography