Spiral CT quantification of aorto-renal calcification and its use in the detection of atheromatous renal artery stenosis: A study in 42 patients.

PURPOSE

To investigate whether a correlation exists between aortic and renal arterial calcifications detected with spiral CT and significant angiographic renal artery stenosis (RAS).

METHODS

Forty-two patients (mean age 67 years, range 37-84 years), of whom 24 were hypertensive, prospectively underwent abdominal helical CT and aortic and renal arteriography. The 3-mm thickness CT scans (pitch = 1) were reconstructed each millimeter. A manual outline of the renal artery including its ostial portion was produced. Calcific hyperdensities were defined as areas of density more than 130 HU. CT data were compared with the presence or absence of RAS on angiography (24 cases); hypertension and age were taken into account (Mann-Whitney U-test).

RESULTS

CT detection and quantification appeared to be reliable and reproducible. We did not find any correlation between aortic and renal arterial calcifications and RAS, even for the patients above 65 years, with or without hypertension. There was no correlation either between calcifications and hypertension in patients without RAS.

CONCLUSION

In this population, aortic and renal arterial calcifications have no predictive value for RAS.