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©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Impact of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in patients with renal function impairment
Rossano Girometti, Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, University of Udine, University Hospital “S. Maria della Misericordia”, 33100 Udine, Italy
Tiziano Stocca, S.O.C. Radiologia, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, 34170 Gorizia, Italy
Elena Serena, Michele Bertolotto, Department of Radiology, University of Trieste, Cattinara Hospital, Strada di Fiume, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Antonio Granata, UOC di Nefrologia-Dialisi, “San Giovanni di Dio” Hospital, 92100 Agrigento, Italy
Author contributions: Girometti R and Bertolotto M designed the study; Stocca T and Bertolotto M performed examinations; Stocca T, Serena E, Granata A and Bertolotto M analyzed images; Girometti R, Stocca T, Serena E, Granata A and Bertolotto M analyzed data; Girometti R and Bertolotto M wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy.
Informed consent statement: By Italian regulations (Determinazione Ministeriale 20.03.2008, Delibera del 15.12.2011 del Garante per la Protezione dei Dati personali) informed consent acquisition is waived for retrospective studies.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Nothing to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Rossano Girometti, MD, Institute of Radiology, Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, University of Udine, University Hospital “S. Maria della Misericordia”, via Colugna, 33100 Udine, Italy. rgirometti@sirm.org
Telephone: +39-0432-559266 Fax: +39-0432-559867
Received: June 11, 2016
Peer-review started: June 15, 2016
First decision: July 29, 2016
Revised: September 18, 2016
Accepted: November 1, 2016
Article in press: November 2, 2016
Published online: January 28, 2017
Processing time: 217 Days and 15.7 Hours
Peer-review started: June 15, 2016
First decision: July 29, 2016
Revised: September 18, 2016
Accepted: November 1, 2016
Article in press: November 2, 2016
Published online: January 28, 2017
Processing time: 217 Days and 15.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Imaging in patients with renal function impairment (RFI) is challenging because of well-known limitations of conventional color Doppler ultrasound or risks related to the use of contrast media on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is a safer imaging tool in patients with RFI, showing 36% detection rate of renal infarction in patients with acute renal failure of suspicious vascular origin, and the capability of characterizing renal lesions in order to address patients to most proper treatment.