Contemporary imaging techniques for the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis.
Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is a potentially curable cause of renovascular hypertension (RVH) and is caused by either atherosclerosis or fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) in the vast majority of patients. Although intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (IA-DSA) is still considered the standard of reference test for the anatomical diagnosis of RAS, noninvasive techniques such as MR angiography, CT angiography, and color-aided duplex ultrasonography are promising alternatives that also allow functional characterization of RAS. We provide an overview of these techniques and discuss their relative merits and shortcomings. Analysis of high-quality studies shows that both MR and CT angiography are significantly more accurate for the diagnosis of at least 50% atherosclerotic RAS than ultrasonographic techniques. The primary strength of ultrasonography at present is its suggested ability to predict functional recovery based on preinterventional resistance index measurements. A still unresolved issue is the detection of FMD. Because missing RVH may have serious consequences the most important requirement for a screening test is that it has high sensitivity.
Department of Radiology, Maastricht University Hospital, Peter Debijelaan 25, Maastricht, 6229, The Netherlands. leiner@rad.unimaas.nl
T
T
Leiner
M W
MW
de Haan
P J
PJ
Nelemans
J M A
JM
van Engelshoven
G B C
GB
Vasbinder
D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012078:Renal Artery Obstruction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography