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Advanced ultrasound applications in the assessment of renal transplants: contrast-enhanced ultrasound, elastography, and B-flow

Abdominal Radiology volume 43, pages 2604–2614 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Ultrasound is routinely used as the first imaging exam for evaluation of renal transplants and can identify most major surgical complications and evaluate vascularity with color Doppler. Ultrasound is limited, however, in the detection of parenchymal disease processes and Doppler evaluation is also prone to technical errors. Multiple new ultrasound applications have been developed and are under ongoing investigation which could add additional diagnostic capability to the routine ultrasound exam with minimal additional time, cost, and patient risk. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can be used off-label in the transplant kidney, and can assist in detection of infection, trauma, and vascular complications. CEUS also can demonstrate perfusion of the transplant assessed quantitatively with generation of time–intensity curves. Future directions of CEUS include monitoring treatment response and microbubble targeted medication delivery. Elastography is an ultrasound application that can detect changes in tissue elasticity, which is useful to diagnose diffuse parenchymal disease, such as fibrosis, otherwise unrecognizable with ultrasound. Elastography has been successfully applied in other organs including the liver, thyroid, and breast; however, it is still under development for use in the transplant kidney. Unique properties of the transplant kidney including its heterogeneity, anatomic location, and other technical factors present challenges in the development of reference standard measurements. Lastly, B-flow imaging is a flow application derived from B-mode. This application can show the true lumen size of a vessel which is useful to depict vascular anatomy and bypasses some of the pitfalls of color Doppler such as demonstration of slow flow.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Tara A. Morgan, Priyanka Jha, Liina Poder & Stefanie Weinstein

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  1. Tara A. Morgan
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  2. Priyanka Jha
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  3. Liina Poder
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  4. Stefanie Weinstein
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Correspondence to Tara A. Morgan.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The institutional review board waived informed consent for all individual participants included in the study.

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Morgan, T.A., Jha, P., Poder, L. et al. Advanced ultrasound applications in the assessment of renal transplants: contrast-enhanced ultrasound, elastography, and B-flow. Abdom Radiol 43, 2604–2614 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-018-1585-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-018-1585-1

Keywords

  • Ultrasound
  • Elastography
  • Contrast-enhanced ultrasound
  • B-flow