Error analysis by simulation studies in renography deconvolution.

The renogram, defined as the time-activity curve obtained from measurements with a gamma detector over the kidneys after a prior injection of a radioactive tracer, can be quantified using the deconvolution method. Essentially all the inherent information in the renogram, the estimated relative renal uptake function and transit time spectrum through the kidney, can be derived from the computed renal retention function. This study shows how statistical and physiological noise and different backgrounds affect the accuracy of the derived parameters. Confidence intervals for the estimated relative renal function and mean transit time (MTT) are presented. The principal source of error in relative renal function was due to extrarenal background. It was found that the error in mean transit time due to statistical noise was proportional to MTT, that the presence of extrarenal background strongly affected the accuracy of the MTT, whereas the vascular background in the renogram was of minor importance. Physiological noise, interpreted as periodic changes in transit times does, strictly speaking, invalidate the deconvolution principle, but it was possible to calculate a valid mean value of the different actual transit times. The transit time spectrum, measured by differentiation of the computed retention function, was found to be of no practical value with use of the unconstrained matrix method. The signal to noise ratio and consequently the need for smoothing can be estimated from the sum of the squared second derivatives of the renogram itself. The plateau levels in the renal retention function provide a more reliable estimate for the relative function ratio than the relative amplitude of a renogram in which extrarenal background only has been subtracted.