title: Ultrasonographic evaluation of renal resistive index in patients with lupus nephritis: correlation with histologic findings.
abstract: We analyzed the association between the renal arterial resistive index (RI) and the histologic features of lupus nephritis. All consecutive patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who required a kidney biopsy were enrolled. The study protocol included ultrasonographic assessment to measure the RI and kidney biopsy (International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society classification). A RI > 0.7 was considered pathologic. Patients with non-renal SLE and healthy patients were studied as control groups. We enrolled 42 patients with renal SLE, 10 with non-renal SLE and 14 healthy patients: their mean (±standard deviation) RI values were 0.64 ± 0.08, 0.60 ± 0.04 and 0.59 ± 0.01, respectively (p = not significant). RIs > 0.7 were recorded only in patients with renal SLE (5/42, 11.9%). The percentage of patients with a pathologic RI was significantly higher in class IV nephritis in comparison with other classes (p < 0.009). In conclusion, we found a significant correlation between pathologic RI and class IV nephritis, suggesting a role for RI as a severity marker.
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fabrizio.conti@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ceccarelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gigante
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Biagio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barbano
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perricone
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Massaro
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca Romana
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Spinelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Oncology and Pathology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Kostantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giannakakis
authors.affiliation: Lupus Clinic, Rheumatology Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valesini
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cianci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Kidney biopsy; Nephritis; Resistive index; Systemic lupus erythematosus