Find in Library

<br /><strong>BACKGROUND</strong>: Renal artery stenosis is one of the important causes of hypertension and end<br />stage renal failure. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and Doppler ultrasonography are<br />non-invasive and safe diagnostic techniques that have also high sensitivity and specificity. Since<br />the accuracy and reliability of these techniques depend upon technicians and softwares, we<br />decided to evaluate and compare the sensitivity and specificity of these techniques in Isfahan.<br /><strong>METHODS</strong>: Our study included all the patients (37 patients) who underwent renal artery<br />angiography during 2 years from May 2003 to May 2005 and up to six months after that had<br />underwent MRA (21 patients) and Doppler sonography (16 patients) in Isfahan. Renal artery<br />angiography was considered as the gold standard.<br /><strong>RESULTS</strong>: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 100%, 25%, 25%,<br />and 100% were obtained for MRA respectively. Specificity and positive predictive values (PPV)<br />of Doppler sonography were 67%. Its sensitivity and negative predictive values (NPV) were 57%.<br /><strong>CONCLUSION</strong>: Although it seems that technician dependency, technical and software<br />problems were the reasons of low specificity of gadolinium-enhanced MRA in our study, further<br />studies with larger sample sizes are recommended.<br /><strong>Keywords</strong>: MRA, Doppler Ultrasonography, Renal Artery Stenosis.