Tc DMSA scintigraphic findings in renal tuberculosis

ABSTRACT

Evaluations of residual renal function and the therapeutic effectiveness in renal tuberculosis have largely been dependent on intravenous pyelogram or Contrast-CT scan, even though, exact renal function are not evaluated with there methads. 99mTc-DMSA is a radiopharmaceutical that is trapped in the functioning tubular cells of the kidney and therefore, quantitative renal function could be evaluoted by ineasuring the counts of renal radioactivity and concomittant evaluation of renal morphology could be passible with the analog imapes of the radioactivity. The authors retrospectively analyzed 99mTc-DMSA scans of 75 kidndys of 67 patients with confirmed renal tuberculosis. We classified the morphologies of tuberculous kidneys as 6 types. We classified the morphologies of tuberculous kidneys as 6 types such as the type with small cortical defect, with parenchymal ulcerocavernous lesions, ulcerocavernous fistula to pelvis, mass-like defects, contracted kidney with ureter visualization, and the type with nonvisualization of kidney, corresponding to the characters of renal tuberculous pathogenesis with abscess formation, ulcerocavernous fistula, and fibrosis, and correspondings to the renal anatomy with parenchyma, and pelvocalyceal collecting system. Their mean residual renal functions measured with 99mTc-DMSA uptake rates were 19.0%, 18.4%, 7.9%, 12%, 4.1%, 3.4% respectively.