Renal function after unilateral nephrectomy for Wilms' tumour: the influence of radiation therapy.

The effect of therapy on renal function after unilateral nephrectomy for Wilms' tumour was studied. In the second year following unilateral nephrectomy, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) were estimated simultaneously by measuring 125I-iothalamate clearance and 131I-hippurate clearance. Of 41 evaluable patients, 29 received chemotherapy as sole treatment modality following nephrectomy (group 1); 12 patients additionally received radiation therapy to a field that included the remaining kidney (group 2).

[Polyarthritis in childhood].

As for chronic polyarthritis in childhood the polyarthritis due to JCA is the most frequently diagnosed one. Today pathogenesis and pathophysiology are still gloomy. But the characteristic clinical aspects of the disease at onset together with laboratory (serological) investigations enables us to identify the different types of polyarticular JCA.

Reversible diminished renal 99mTc-DMSA uptake during converting-enzyme inhibition in a patient with renal artery stenosis.

A patient is described who had accelerated hypertension and unilateral renal artery stenosis, and who developed further deterioration in renal function during treatment with captopril, an angiotension-I (AI) converting-enzyme inhibitor. 99mTc-DMSA uptake was greatly diminished in the stenotic kidney, although renal blood flow and handling of 131I-hippurate was preserved. Uptake of 99mTc-DMSA in the affected kidney returned after substitution of captopril by the vasodilator minoxidil, while a comparable degree of blood pressure control was maintained.

Low renal uptake of 99mTc-DMSA in patients with proximal tubular dysfunction.

In nine patients with different types of proximal tubulopathy and a nearly normal glomerular filtration rate a low uptake of 99mTc-DMSA in kidneys was found. The underlying mechanism seems to be an increased urinary excretion of 99mTc-DMSA. This radiopharmaceutical might be used as a marker of proximal tubular dysfunction.