The utility of renal sonographic measurements in differentiating children with high grade congenital hydronephrosis.

INTRODUCTION: Current grading systems for hydronephrosis include a subjective determination of parenchymal 'thickness' and suffer from poor reliability. Use of more objective ultrasonographic measurements including medullary pyramidal thickness (PT) may be useful in augmenting current grading systems by decreasing subjectivity and enhancing prognostic ability. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of PT measurements in patients with SFU grades 3 and 4 hydronephrosis, we assessed the: 1) the inter-rater reliability of PT measurements, 2) the correlation between relative renal function on nuclear renal scan and PT, and 3) the pyeloplasty predictive ability of PT alone and in combination with SFU grade and/or other sonographic measurements in multivariate statistical models. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed 110 children with SFU grade III and IV hydronephrosis. Most patients presented with a history of prenatally detected hydronephrosis at a median age (IQR) of 1.7 months (0.6-5.2). Sixty-two kidneys were followed without operative intervention while 63 underwent pyeloplasty. Indications for surgery included an obstructive drainage pattern with a T1/2 > 20 min on diuretic renal scan in addition to decreased relative renal function less than 40%, increasing hydronephrosis on serial ultrasounds, and/or a decline in relative renal function >10% on serial renal scans. The median age at the time of pyeloplasty was 5.7 months (2.8-13.7). The median time from initial presentation to final follow-up for all patients was 28 months (18.3-44.6). The PT, APD, and renal length were measured on sonographic images. The inter-rater reliability for SFU grading was only fair whereas it was excellent for PT measurements. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated for inclusive multivariate models for prediction of pyeloplasty with and without SFU grade. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: PT is a reliable and useful measurement to characterize the hydronephrotic kidney parenchyma and a PT > 3 mm occurs significantly more frequently in patients with a DRF ≥ 45% (p = 0.0056). PT alone was predictive of subsequent pyeloplasty (AUC = 0.781). A novel pyeloplasty predictive score (PPS) using only objective measurements including PT, APD, and renal length was more accurate than a PPS that incorporated SFU grade (AUC of 0.885 and 0.866, respectively). Utilization of PT ≤ 3 mm as a criterion for 'thinned parenchyma' in the SFU, UTD, and other hydronephrosis grading systems should be considered if confirmed by additional studies.

Comparing the outcomes of two independent computed tomography perfusion softwares and their impact on therapeutic decisions in acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: To compare the computed tomography perfusion (CTP) outcomes derived from two commercial CTP processing software and evaluate their concordance in terms of eligibility for mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS), based on DEFUSE III criteria. METHODS: A total of 118 patients (62 patients in the MT group and 56 patients in the non-MT (NMT) group) were included. Volumetric perfusion outputs were compared between Syngo.via (package A) and RAPID (package B). Influence on proceeding or not-proceeding with MT was based on DEFUSE III imaging eligibility criteria. RESULTS: Median core infarct/hypoperfusion volumes were 12.3/126 mL in the MT group and 7.7/29.3 ml in the NMT group with package A and 10.5/138 mL and 1.9/24.5 mL with package B, respectively. In the MT group (n=62), concordant perfusion results in terms of patient triage were noted in all but two cases. Of these, one patient would not have qualified (low ASPECTS), while the other qualified based on package A results. For the NMT group (n=56), there was discordance in terms of MT eligibility in seven cases. However, none of these patients qualified for MT based on DEFUSE III criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Both perfusion softwares showed high concordance in correctly triaging patients in the MT versus NMT groups (110/118, 93.2%), which further improved when all DEFUSE III imaging criteria were considered (117/118, 99.1%). The core/hypoperfusion volumes in the NMT group and core infarct volumes in the MT groups were comparable. The hypoperfusion volumes in the MT group varied slightly but did not affect triage between groups.