Early evaluation of renal hemodynamic alterations in type I diabetes mellitus with duplex ultrasound.

To evaluate the role of renal duplex ultrasonography in the detection of early alteration of renal blood flow in type I diabetic patients, we studied with duplex ultrasound 32 patients with type I diabetes mellitus (19 males, 13 females, age range 8-19 years) and 35 age and sex-matched controls. The resistivity indices (RIs) and pulsatility indices (PIs) of the main renal as well as intra-renal arteries were calculated. Compared with the healthy control subjects, diabetic patients had significantly higher resistivity indices (RIs) in the intrarenal (segmental, arcuate and interlobar) arteries (P= 0.