Noninvasive comprehensive characterization of renal artery stenosis by combination of STAR angiography and EPISTAR perfusion imaging.

In a small fraction of patients with hypertension, the cause is stenosis of the renal artery. To date, there is no established noninvasive screening technique available to identify this population, for whom treatment with a surgical procedure or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty is often possible. In this study, the sensitivity and specificity of STAR angiography and EPISTAR perfusion imaging in characterizing renal artery stenosis were evaluated in an animal model. Qualitatively, STAR provided projection angiograms that were comparably sensitive to x-ray angiograms but obtained noninvasively. The sensitivity for detecting the stenosis was 100%. The specificity varied according to the definition of the threshold for significance, which varied 78-94%, depending on whether > 70% or > 50% diameter reduction was considered. Improvements in specificity will depend upon use of shorter echo times and higher spatial resolution. Our preliminary data indicate that EPISTAR provides sensitivity and specificity of 100% for characterizing stenosis with diameter reductions of > 70%.