Renal function and technetium-99m-dimercaptosuccinic acid uptake in single kidneys: the value of in vivo SPECT quantitation.

The ability to evaluate kidney function in each kidney separately by quantitative SPECT was tested in 20 patients with a single kidney and varying degrees of renal disease. Technetium-99m-dimercaptosuccinic acid (99mTc-DMSA) uptake was compared with renal function measured by creatinine clearance and serum creatinine. There was a good correlation for both serum creatinine (r = 0.89, y = 24.6 *X -1.15, error = 5.6, p less than 0.001) and creatinine clearance (r = 0.76, y = 0.6 *X 0.84, error = 8.0, p less than 0.001). The results indicate that SPECT quantitation of 99mTc-DMSA uptake can be used as an indicator of the function of each kidney individually.