Normal renal length is >10 cm in the third decade, but renal length correlates with height, sex, age (negative correlation), and weight in normal patients and varies with the state of hydration or presence of an obstruction [3]. Renal size/volume correlates with creatinine clearance [30]. Both kidney Renal Failure size and parenchymal thickness decrease in CKD [31]. Therefore, a normal kidney size suggests AKI rather than CKD. However, infiltrative and inflammatory diseases, as well as renal vein thrombosis, may increase kidney size and parenchymal thickness in AKI or CKD. Increased renal echogenicity is associated with acute and chronic medical renal disease, but this is nonspecific and does not correlate well with renal function. Patients with AKI have only a 30% to 40% chance of increased echogenicity [4,28]. Alternatively, small echogenic kidneys are diagnostic of CKD. Color Doppler is routinely used to assess global perfusion and confirm arterial and venous patency. Color Doppler will differentiate a dilated pelvis from prominent renal veins in the renal sinus and can confirm presence or absence of ureteral jets in the bladder. If there is contemporaneous imaging such as CT or MRI showing normal kidneys and no new risk factors for obstruction, additional US is not indicated. US Duplex Doppler Kidneys Retroperitoneal Renovascular causes of AKI are rare; renal artery stenosis was found in 1.5% of cases with AKI even when it was not the cause of AKI [4]. In an older series of intensive care patients, AKI was attributed to renal artery thrombosis, stenosis, or trauma in 1% [17]. The diagnosis of significant renal artery stenosis can be made by obtaining angle- corrected measurements of the peak systolic velocities in the aorta and main renal arteries. Using a cutoff value of 285 cm/s achieved sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of 67%, 90%, and 81%, respectively, for >60% stenosis [32].
Renal Failure. Normal renal length is >10 cm in the third decade, but renal length correlates with height, sex, age (negative correlation), and weight in normal patients and varies with the state of hydration or presence of an obstruction [3]. Renal size/volume correlates with creatinine clearance [30]. Both kidney Renal Failure size and parenchymal thickness decrease in CKD [31]. Therefore, a normal kidney size suggests AKI rather than CKD. However, infiltrative and inflammatory diseases, as well as renal vein thrombosis, may increase kidney size and parenchymal thickness in AKI or CKD. Increased renal echogenicity is associated with acute and chronic medical renal disease, but this is nonspecific and does not correlate well with renal function. Patients with AKI have only a 30% to 40% chance of increased echogenicity [4,28]. Alternatively, small echogenic kidneys are diagnostic of CKD. Color Doppler is routinely used to assess global perfusion and confirm arterial and venous patency. Color Doppler will differentiate a dilated pelvis from prominent renal veins in the renal sinus and can confirm presence or absence of ureteral jets in the bladder. If there is contemporaneous imaging such as CT or MRI showing normal kidneys and no new risk factors for obstruction, additional US is not indicated. US Duplex Doppler Kidneys Retroperitoneal Renovascular causes of AKI are rare; renal artery stenosis was found in 1.5% of cases with AKI even when it was not the cause of AKI [4]. In an older series of intensive care patients, AKI was attributed to renal artery thrombosis, stenosis, or trauma in 1% [17]. The diagnosis of significant renal artery stenosis can be made by obtaining angle- corrected measurements of the peak systolic velocities in the aorta and main renal arteries. Using a cutoff value of 285 cm/s achieved sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of 67%, 90%, and 81%, respectively, for >60% stenosis [32].