Assessment of split renal function with 99mTc-aprotinin.

The aim of this work is to correlate the net kidney uptake of 99mTc-aprotinin (TcA) in 103 subjects with separate effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and some blood chemistry parameters at 90, 180, and 360 min postinjection both in the normal and diseased kidney. Correlations found with separate ERPFs are highly significant at any time (P less than 0.001). However, although the slope of the regression line is steeper at 180 min, r tends to deteriorate slightly with time postinjection and a higher intercept on the y axis; this pattern is more pronounced if diseased kidneys are considered separately. The following are probably related to the renal handling of TcA: Early scans better reflect blood flow to the kidney, while later scans are more related to the metabolism/excretion tubular mechanisms; correlations found with urea, creatinine, urea clearance, and creatinine clearance are highly significant at any time; in 20 additional patients with diseased kidneys, renal uptake measurements done 360 min postinjection first with TcA and then with DMSA showed better correlations with ERPF employing TcA. Our results indicate that TcA is a feasible indicator of split renal function even at 90 min postinjection when a scan is easily carried out on an outpatient basis.