Comparison of Diagnostic Value of Intrarenal Doppler Indices and Microalbuminuria for Detection of Diabetic Nephropathy in Type II Diabetic Patients

Background & Aims: Diabetes is the most common cause of renal insufficiency throughout the world. The main cause of renal failure in diabetic patients is microvascular endothelial injuries that is secondary to atherosclerosis and ischemia. The efficacy of renal Doppler indices such as resistive index (RI) and pulsetile index (PI) for the evaluation of intrarenal arteries has been shown. This study was done to determine the accuracy of RI and PI indices in earlier detection of renal involvement in type II diabetes. Method: Sixty diabetic patients were divided into two groups of with microalbuminuria and without microalbuminuria. After determinig RI and PI, the two groups were compared by using independent t-test, fisher exact test and Pearson correlation and through SPSS 15. Results: A statistically significant correlation was found between RI and positivity of microalbuminuria (P= 0.013). There was no correlation between RI and variables of age, sex and duration of diabetes. Moreover, 60% of cases without microalbuminuria had RI>0.7 that shows the diagnostic value of RI in earlier detection of renal failure in comparison to microalbuminoria test. Conclusion: Further studies for proving the efficacy of RI as the screening test for earlier detection of renal involvement in diabetes are recommended.