Relationship between Renal Cortex Thickness or Volume and Split Renal Function:Study with CT Measurement

Objective To study the relationship between renal cortex thickness or volume and renal function,and to assess the value of CT as a criterion to grade renal function. Materials and Methods Enhanced CT were performed in 36 nephrohydrosis patients whose split renal glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were measured by SPECT renal dynamic imaging. The 72 kidneys were divided into normal renal function,mild and severe renal impairment groups according to renal function. Differences between the groups respect to the mean cortex thickness and volume were assesses by ANOVA.Using Pearson,scorrelation test,the corelation between the renal cortex thicknesses,volume and renal GFR were examined. Results The renal cortex thicknesses of normal renal function,mild and severe renal impairment groups were(0.51±0.1)、(0.37±0.12)、(0.23±0.80)cm respectively,and the renal cortex volume were(74.26±11.92)、(55.28±15.19)、(27.57±7.02)cm 3. There were significant differences of renal cortex thickness and volume between three groups (cortex thickness F=51.60,P 0.01:cortex volume F=77.01,P 0.01),The thicknesses of renal cortex( r=0.778,P 0.01),the volume of renal cortex ( r=0.815,P 0.01) had positive linear corelation with renal function. Conclu-sion The thicknesses and volume of renal cortex measured by CT can reflect renal function. CT was a supplementary method to assess renal function.