Quantitation of renal function with technetium-99m MAG3.

The technetium-labeled hippuran analog [99mTc]MAG3 was compared with [131I]hippuran in 50 patients using a quantitative renal function protocol that includes: (a) estimation of effective renal plasma flow by a single-injection, single-sample plasma clearance method, (b) determination of relative function of right and left kidney from the initial count rate over each kidney, and (c) comparison of recovered urine activity with plasma disappearance. This protocol is suitable for routine clinical use, and, in fact, has been used heavily at our clinic for a number of years. By slight modification of the formulas, the results obtained with [99mTc]MAG3 agreed well with those using [131I]hippuran. We conclude that [99mTc]MAG3 can be substituted for [131I]hippuran in the quantitative protocol, with the better image quality and lower radiation dose (in abnormals) of a technetium-labeled agent.