Assessment of renal vascular anatomy on multi-detector computed tomography in living renal donors.

Abstract

Prospective renal donors are a select population of healthy individuals who have been thoroughly screened for significant comorbidities before they undergo multi-detector computed tomography angiography and urography (MDCT). The aim of this study is to describe the anatomy of potential living renal donor subjects using MDCT over a 2-year period. The primary objective is to identify the renal arterial anatomy variations, with a secondary objective of identifying venous and collecting system/ureteric variations. A prospective study was performed of prospective living kidney transplant donors at a national kidney transplant centre. Study inclusion criteria were all potential kidney donors who underwent MDCT during the living-donor assessment process over a 2-year period. Our cohort included 160 potential living donors who had MDCT; mean age was 45.6years (range, 21-71). Two renal arteries were identified on the left in 40 subjects (25%) and on the right in 42 subjects (26.3%). A total of 3 or more renal arteries were identified on the left in 7 subjects (4.4%) and on the right in 7 subjects (4.4%). On the left, the distances between multiple arteries ranged from 1mm to 43mm, and on the right, they were 1mm to 84mm. Conventionally described anatomy was only seen on the left side in 70.6% and 69.4% on the right side of subjects. Single renal arteries are seen in 54.4% showing that conventional anatomy has a relatively low incidence.