Gluceptate renal imaging: experience in a pediatric population.

Gluceptate renal imaging was performed to evaluate renal function and morphology in 50 pediatric patients (27 males, 23 females). Retrospective categorization revealed that 49% (27) of the studies were for functional evaluation, 27% (15) were for anatomic considerations and 23% (13) were of a miscellaneous nature. Thirty-one patients also underwent intravenous pyelograms (IVP) and in seven discordant cases gluceptate imaging provided correct information in five, compared with only one correct IVP. While both the IVP and gluceptate imaging provide clinical information concerning renal function and morphology, the ability to obtain blood flow data and to quantitate differential renal functional mass allows gluceptate imaging to define renal function more specifically than the IVP making a more meaningful diagnostic procedure for the evaluation of patients with known or suspected renal abnormalities.