According to Mayo Clinic physiologist Juan C. Romero, MD, this technique will prove very useful in the diagnosis and evaluation of kidney disease in general, and in kidney-related hypertension in particular. And the ability to identify malfunctioning kidneys may help direct proper prevention and therapy in patients with kidney disease, according to Romero. Fast CT scans are non-invasive and painless.
Patients lie on a table while X-ray beams scan portions of the body.
The scanner takes a rapid succession of images that may be viewed alone or in sequence. The CT's ability to digitize and sequence images helps physicians see and analyze blood flowing through both kidneys, different areas within kidneys, how much blood is filtered to form urine, and the urine formation process, according to Romero. Previously, individual kidney function was impossible to evaluate non-invasively. He said that Fast CT has the potential to eliminate up to half of conventional kidney-related laboratory tests, in addition to expediting a patient's time spent being evaluated and waiting for results by two to five days. The full potential of this technique will not be known until further evaluation in patients, he added.