Effective Renal Plasma Flow Determination Using Technetium·

Previous studies have suggested that by slight modification of the cu"entformulosfor iodine-131 (1) orthoiodohippurate (OIH) effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) quantitation, technetium99m ('mTc) mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG~ can be substituted for 1-0IH in the quantitative renal function protocol. This study was undertaken to compare two different camera techniques that do not require blood samples. The Schlegel camera method, modified by the introduction of 0.67 as a co"ection factor, comprised one technique. In the other technique, the renal clearance (RC) was determined and then converted to ERPF. The results were then compared with the Tauxe (TX) method. Fifty patients with varying degrees of renal impairment were studied. Our comparative results support the concept that a camera technique can be applied to 9mTc-MAG3 to determine ERPF, with results similar to those obtained by the Tauxe method (p < 0.01).