John Hines;
Huntington Hospital; Northwell Health, NS/LIJ
Background
Living donor renal transplant is increasingly preferred over deceased donor renal transplant and is associated with increased graft survival and decreased transplant waiting list time. A thorough workup of the donor candidate is performed, including imaging with CTA or MRA. Imaging is imperative for detailed knowledge of the donor's renal and vascular anatomy, and these modalities are less invasive than conventional catheter angiography.
Educational Goals / Teaching Points
The goal of this presentation is to understand the purpose of renal donor imaging from radiologic and surgical perspectives, including appropriate protocols and reasoning for the use of each series/sequence, as well as the implications of important imaging findings pertaining to potential renal donors.
Key Anatomic/Physiologic Issues and Imaging Findings/Techniques
This exhibit will include a written and pictorial overview of CTA and MRA, including their various postprocessing and reformatting capabilities, which provide the radiologist and the surgeon with excellent visualization of donor anatomy. The majority of the exhibit will focus on variant renal and vascular anatomy, including both descriptions and imaging examples. Easy to overlook findings and their consequences will be detailed for the purpose of elucidating key information to include in radiology reports.
Conclusion
Renal donor imaging allows the transplant surgeon to plan surgical technique, avoid prolonged surgery time, and prevent excessive bleeding. CTA and MRA are therefore an imperative part of the renal donor work-up and the radiologist plays a vital role in conveying information.
