title: Imaging-based diagnosis of acute renal allograft rejection.
abstract: Kidney transplantation is the best available treatment for patients with end stage renal disease. Despite the introduction of effective immunosuppressant drugs, episodes of acute allograft rejection still endanger graft survival. Since efficient treatment of acute rejection is available, rapid diagnosis of this reversible graft injury is essential. For diagnosis of rejection, invasive core needle biopsy of the graft is the "gold-standard". However, biopsy carries the risk of significant graft injury and is not immediately feasible in patients taking anticoagulants. Therefore, a non-invasive tool assessing the whole organ for specific and fast detection of acute allograft rejection is desirable. We herein review current imaging-based state of the art approaches for non-invasive diagnostics of acute renal transplant rejection. We especially focus on new positron emission tomography-based as well as targeted ultrasound-based methods.
authors.affiliation: Gerold Thölking, Katharina Schuette-Nuetgen, Dominik Kentrup, Helga Pawelski, Stefan Reuter, Department of Medicine D, Division of General Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerold
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thölking
authors.affiliation: Gerold Thölking, Katharina Schuette-Nuetgen, Dominik Kentrup, Helga Pawelski, Stefan Reuter, Department of Medicine D, Division of General Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schuette-Nuetgen
authors.affiliation: Gerold Thölking, Katharina Schuette-Nuetgen, Dominik Kentrup, Helga Pawelski, Stefan Reuter, Department of Medicine D, Division of General Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kentrup
authors.affiliation: Gerold Thölking, Katharina Schuette-Nuetgen, Dominik Kentrup, Helga Pawelski, Stefan Reuter, Department of Medicine D, Division of General Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Helga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pawelski
authors.affiliation: Gerold Thölking, Katharina Schuette-Nuetgen, Dominik Kentrup, Helga Pawelski, Stefan Reuter, Department of Medicine D, Division of General Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reuter
keywords: Acute allograft rejection; Imaging; Kidney transplantation; Magnetic resonance imaging; Positron emission tomography; Renal; Single photon emission computed tomography; Ultrasound