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 necrosis (ATN) caused by preservation injury, aminoglycosides, and following acute rejection. Combined with the other parameters of renal function determined by this technique, FF alternation proved useful in the differentiation of ATN from rejection and in predicting the prognosis of renal homografts.