Renal cortical thickness in adults with normal renal function measured by ultrasonography

Renal cortical thickness is an important index for many renal diseases. Ultrasonography has been introduced as an effective method to determine different renal measurements. The objective of this study was to determine the sonographic measurement of renal cortical thickness [RCT] in adults with normal renal function in Isfahan and its relation with gender, age, height, weight, body mass index [BMI], and the side of the body. 142 healthy subjects aged 20-50 years with no history of renal or systemic diseases were studied prospectively. These patients had normal BUN/Cr tests and urine analysis. They also had a normal kidney sonography. Gray scale sonography was used to measure the distance between the outer border of the medulla and the renal capsule, presenting as RCT. 80 men and 62 women with a mean +/- SD age of 38.8 +/- 7.7 years underwent sonography. The mean +/- SD RCT was 9.09 +/- 0.99 mm. RCT associated with gender [P=0.02] but there was no significant difference between the right and left RCTs [P=0.15]. There were significant positive correlations between RCT and renal length and the patients' height, but such a correlation was not observed between RCT and age, BMI, and the patients' weight. RCT varies with many variables including gender, height and length of the kidney. The results of this study can be used for evaluation of RCT to determine abnormal clinical conditions

relative frequency, clinical and laboratory findings of adult glomerulonephritidies in Tehran

Renal diseases information is population-based and has great geographic variability. Due to the lack of national renal data registry system, there is no information on the prevalence rate, and clinical and laboratory features of various glomerulonephritidies [GNs] in Iran. In a retrospective cross sectional study, we analyzed 462 adult renal biopsies in Hashemi Nejad hospital, Tehran, Iran. We determined the prevalence rate and the frequency of different clinical and laboratory findings in patients with different GNs. We also compared our results with the reports from other countries. There were 267[57.8%] males and 195[42.2%] females. The mean age [ +/- SD] was 33.6 +/- 15.7 [range, 13-75] years old. After exclusion of 55 biopsies with pathologies other than GNs and in the remaining 407 biopsies, membranous glomerulopathy [MGN] was the most common GN [23.6%], followed by IgAN [13.5%], membranoproliferative GN [11.5%], systemic lupus nephritis [10.6%], focal segmental glomerulosclerosis [10.3%], and minimal change disease [9.8%]. These 6 GNs comprised the majority [79.4%] of all GNs. MGN is the most common form of GN, followed by IgAN, MPGN, SLE-GN, FSGS and MCD in adult patients in our study. The multi-center studies with a larger sample size are needed for more comprehensive data in Iranian population