Radiology, Vol 190, 149-152, Copyright © 1994 by Radiological Society of North America
Renal corticomedullary differentiation: observation in patients with differing serum creatinine levels
RC Semelka, K Corrigan, SM Ascher, JJ Brown and RE Colindres
Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599.
PURPOSE: To evaluate renal corticomedullary differentiation (CMD) in
patients with differing serum creatinine (sCr) levels. MATERIALS AND
METHODS: Ten patients with normal sCr levels (0.9-1.3 mg/dL [80-115
mumol/L]), 14 with mildly elevated levels (1.5-2.9 mg/dL [133-256
mumol/L]), and 15 with elevated levels (> 3.0 mg/dL [265 mumol/L]) were
examined with unenhanced T1-weighted fat-suppressed spin-echo (T1FS) and
immediate gadolinium-enhanced gradient-echo (Gd-GRE) imaging. RESULTS:
Patients with normal sCr levels had CMD on T1FS and Gd-GRE images. Among
patients with mildly elevated levels, seven did and seven did not have CMD
on T1FS images; all had CMD on Gd-GRE images. Patients with elevated levels
had no CMD on T1FS images; 13 had CMD on Gd-GRE images. Two patients with
levels above 10.0 mg/dL (884 mumol/L) had no CMD on Gd-GRE images.
CONCLUSION: Independent of the cause of elevated sCr level, levels above
3.0 mg/dL result in loss of CMD on T1FS images, while levels above 10.0
mg/dL result in loss of CMD on Gd-GRE images.
