Advantages of Ultrafast™ ultrasound in the screening for renal artery disease

Aim: Renal artery disease is the most common cause of secondary hypertension worldwide. B-mode and Doppler ultrasound are considered the modalities of choice for the imaging of the renal arteries. However, an adequate examination can be plagued by difficulties in patients with unfavorable anatomy. UltraFast™ ultrasound is faster, performed with higher frame rates, and enables prospective and retrospective data analysis with quantification of flow data in the obtained image, so it may be able to resolve some of the difficulties encountered during conventional ultrasound examinations in patients with suspected renal artery disease. Material and methods: Comparison of the duration of conventional and UltraFast™ Doppler examinations of segmental renal arteries was performed on 52 young, healthy volunteers. Duration times were summarized using the median and interquartile range, and comparisons between the two methods were performed using the Wilcoxon test for paired samples. Results: The duration of UltraFast™ ultrasound examinations was significantly shorter in comparison to conventional ultrasound for both kidneys and in total (p <0.001, median difference in duration 65 s, median 64% shorter duration of analysis), while both conventional and UltraFast™ ultrasound examinations demonstrated consistent velocity measurements with very high correlation (Rho = 0.94, p <0.001). Conclusions: The study provides evidence that UltraFast™ ultrasound is faster than conventional Doppler ultrasonography for the assessment of renal artery disease in healthy adults without a history of renal disease. The findings have important implications for clinical practice, as they suggest that UltraFast™ imaging could offer a more efficient and time-saving approach to vascular imaging in patients with suspected renal artery disease.