Extract

Background: The link between kidney damage and essential arterial hypertension (HT) remains a challenge in medical research from a century when HT concept was defined. The hypertensive nephrosclerosis is currently diagnosed in the latest stages of the disease mainly because, for a long period of time, the injuries are compensated by kidney itself and clinical presentation is non-specific.

Purpose: To evaluate if contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) has a diagnostic value in early diagnosis of hypertensive nephrosclerosis.

Method: We studied 100 patients with HT in different stages of the disease, diagnosed and treated according to the current guidelines and 20 healthy adult volunteers for comparison. After a complete clinical examination and specific laboratory tests, all subjects were investigated by CEUS with sulphur hexafluoride, administered in bolus in a cubital vein using a cannula of 20 Gauge, in a dosage of 1.2 ml, followed by 10 ml of saline solutions. The images with the displayed renal cortex were continuously recorded for 3 minutes, starting from the moment of injection. Then, all images were analysed using Contrast Dynamics Software.

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