Renal vascular resistance in diabetic nephropathy: Duplex Doppler US evaluation

PURPOSE: To evaluate duplex Doppler sonography to assess renal vascular resistance (RVR) in diabetic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Resistive indexes (RIs) and pulsatility indexes (PIs) were measured in intrarenal arteries of 144 patients with diabetes mellitus and 61 control subjects. RIs and PIs were compared for control subjects and patients with diabetic nephropathy and correlated with laboratory and clinical findings. RESULTS: In control subjects, the mean RI was 0.595 ± 0.033 (standard deviation) and mean PI was 1.001 ± 0.105. Elevated RIs and PIs accompanied progression of nephropathy. Statistically significant (P < .001) correlations were observed between both RI and PI and serum creatinine level, creatinine clearance rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements, and patient age. CONCLUSION: Doppler indexes reflect increased RVR in diabetic nephropathy and correlate with laboratory and clinical parameters, but RI and PI measurements offer no advantages over these parameters to predict disease progress or in patient care.