Background: Contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) assessment of kidney allografts mainly focuses on graft\nrejection. However, studies on delayed graft function (DGF) without acute rejection are still lacking. The aim of this\nstudy was to build a time-intensity curve (TIC) using CEUS in non-immunological DGF to understand the utility of\nCEUS in early transplantation.\nMethods: Twenty-eight patients in the short-term postoperative period (<14 days) were divided according to the\nneed for dialysis (early graft function [EGF] and [DGF]) and 37 subjects with longer than 90 days follow-up were\ndivided into creatinine tertiles. Time to peak [TTP] and rising time [RT were compared between groups.\nResults: EGF and DGF were similar, except for creatinine. In comparison to the late group, medullary TTP and RT\nwere shorter in the early group as well as the delay regarding contrast arrival in the medulla (in relation to cortex)\nand reaching the medullary peak (in relation to artery and cortex). In the late group, patients with renal dysfunction\nshowed shorter temporal difference to reach medullary peak in relation to artery and cortex.\nConclusions: Although it was not possible to differentiate EGF and DGF using TIC, differences between early and\nlate groups point to blood shunting in renal dysfunction.
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