Quantitative renal scintillation camera studies in renal transplantation.

Renal transplant recipients and donors were studied serially with quantitative renal scintillation camera studies utilizing 131I-Hippuran and 99mTc-Iron ascorbate. This study allows for determination of effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), filtration fraction (FF), and predicted return in ten minutes. A drop in FF occurred with, or preceded clinical rejection; whereas, an increase in FF occurred with acute tubular necorsis (ATN) caused by preservation injury, aminoglycosides, and following acute rejection. Combined with the other parameters of renal function determined by this technique, FF alterations proved useful in the differentiation of ATN from rejection and in predicting the prognosis of renal homografts.