OBJECTIVETo investigate the perfusion characteristics of renal mass parenchyma on 64-slice spiral computed tomography (CT).

METHODSTotally 91 patients with renal mass were enrolled. Sixty-four slice spiral CT was used for renal perfusion scan that began with a contrast bolus injection of 50 ml (370 mgI/ml) at a rate of 5 ml/s. Perfusion characteristics, including blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), and permeability (PM) of renal mass parenchyma and renal cortex in affected and normal kidneys were calculated from Siemens Body PCT (VB20B) software, and the perfusion characteristics among renal mass parenchyma and renal cortex in affected and normal kidneys were compared.

RESULTSRenal clear cell carcinoma (RC-CC), renal pelvic transitional cell carcinoma (RPTCC), and renal angiomyolipoma (RAML) was pathologically confirmed in 40, 21, and 16 patients, respectively, while the remaining 14 patients were diagnosed as with renal simple cyst (RSC). Technical failure was experienced in 1 (1.1% ) patient. Perfusion parameters of tumor parenchyma were measured as follow: RCCC, BF (93.7 +/- 20.2) ml x (100 ml)(-1) x min(-1), BV (182.0 +/- 46.6) 1000:1, PM (115.7 +/-30.2) 0.5 ml x (100 ml)(01) x min(-1); RPTCC, BF (48.0 +/- 21.2) ml x (100 ml)(-1) x min(-1), BV (82.4 +/- 29.7) 1000:1, PM (65.7 +/- 17.2) 0.5 ml (100 ml)(-1) x min(-1); RAML, BF (52.6 +/- 18.5) ml x (100 ml)(-1) x min(-1), BV (110.1 +/- 45.9) 1000:1, PM (60.1 +/- 23.0) 0.5 ml x (100 ml)(-1) x min-1; RSC, BF (7.0 +/- 6.5) ml x (100 ml)(-1) min(-1), BV (16.2 +/- 9.7) 1000:1, PM (12.0 +/- 7.2) 0.5 ml x (100 ml) (-1) x min(-1). In all pathological groups, perfusion pa- rameters showed significant differences (P <0 . 1) between mass parenchyma and renal cortex in affected kidney, while there were no significant differences (P > 0. 5) in perfusion characteristics between renal cortex in affected and normal kidneys. Aslo, the perfusion characteristics were significantly different between parenchyma D in any two kinds of renal masses (P <0 . 5) except for RPTCC and RAML (P > 0. 5). C ONCLUSIONS: fDif-rent pathological types of renal mass have different perfusion characteristics. Perfusion imaging with multislice CT is potentially useful in the differential diagnosis of renal mass.