A cooperative study on the clinical value of dynamic renal scanning with deconvolution analysis.

An international project was set up to study the clinical usefulness of intrarenal transit times derived from the renogram by deconvolution. A common data sheet, to collect clinical, biochemical, radiological and isotopic information, was completed by the centres. Five hundred and ninety-one patients were studied and the results analysed. The mean transit time (MTT) in normal kidneys was found to be 3.6± 1.1 min. If the MTT is greater than 7.6 min, a kidney is likely to be obstructed. In vesico-ureteric reflux, the transit times are prolonged, but they are normal in infection, hypertension, parenchymal disease and minimally irradiated kidneys. In transplantation, when the kidney is normal, the transit times are shorter than in the natural kidney; in acute rejection, transit times are prolonged. The role of radioisotopic techniques in the diagnosis of renal disease is well established, although there is still little agreement as to what equipment and which techniques to use and virtually no standardization of protocols (Britton, 1977). Questions such as freedom from infection, degree of renal function, presence of obstruction or dilatation, differential function, evidence of vascular disease or indication of rejection in transplantation are likely to be asked by the renal physician or the urologist