Affiliations: [a] Department of Radiology, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| [b] Department of Surgery, Campus Charité Mitte | Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| [c] Department of Urology, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Markus H. Lerchbaumer, MD., Department of Radiology, Interdisciplinary Ultrasound Center, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Tel.: +49 30 450 657084;
Fax: +49 30 450 7557901; E-mail: markus.lerchbaumer@charite.de.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:B-Mode and Doppler ultrasound are standard diagnostic techniques for early postoperative monitoring and long-term follow-up of kidney transplants. In certain cases, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is used to clarify unclear Doppler findings. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the diagnostic performance of CEUS in the workup of renal allograft pathologies. METHODS:A systematic search for CEUS examinations of renal transplants conducted in our department between 2008 and 2020 was performed using the following inclusion criteria: i) patient age ≥18 years and ii) confirmation of diagnosis by biopsy and histopathology, imaging follow-up by CEUS, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (ceCT), contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ceMRI), or angiography, or intraoperative findings. Exclusion criteria were: i) CEUS performed in the setting of a study and ii) CEUS for other indications than dedicated renal transplant examination. Statistical analysis was performed separately for subgroups with different indications (focal vs non-focal). RESULTS:Overall, 78 patients were included in the statistical analysis, which revealed high sensitivity (92.2%, 95% -confidence interval [CI] 81.5–96.9%) and high specificity (88.9%, 95% -CI 71.9–96.1%) of CEUS. CONCLUSIONS:The high diagnostic performance demonstrated here and the superficial location of kidney allografts advocate the additional use of CEUS in the follow-up of renal transplant recipients.
