Examination of intrarenal blood flow by Doppler ultrasound before and after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for urolithiasis.

This study was aimed to test whether therapeutical extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) may induce changes in renal parenchymatous blood flow, thereby indirectly indicating shock wave side effects on the renal parenchyma. In 18 patients, a Duplex ultrasound investigation of both kidneys was performed before and after ESWL. Pulsatility Index (PI), which is an estimation of renovascular resistance, increased in both treated and untreated kidney. However, the increase was confined to a subgroup of seven patients, who had received meperidine (a morphine analgetic) for analgesia. This increase is more likely to be due to a pharmacological effect of meperidine rather than a direct effect of ESWL on renal hemodynamics. In conclusion, we did not find any evidence of ESWL related affection of renal blood flow measured with duplex ultrasound, a technique sensitive enough to detect changes in renal hemodynamics due to morphine analgetics.