There are a variety of reasons your doctor may ask you to have a renal artery ultrasound scan. Undiagnosed and difficult to control high blood pressure may be as a result of narrowing in the arteries that supply the kidney. Also if your doctor has performed and blood test and has identified a reduction in your kidney function they may wish to rule out any significant problem with the blood supply.
The renal artery ultrasound scan will involve checking the abdominal aorta, the renal arteries, the size of the kidney, the intrarenal artery flow and the general perfusion of the kidney.
When you book this scan you will be asked to fast (not eat or drink) for 4 hours prior to your appointment time. Please take all of your medication as normal. If you are diabetic or take medication that needs to be taken with food then please eat as you would normally. Arrive 5 minutes before your appointment time to allow any paperwork to be completed. Please use the toilet in this time prior to your scan. Once you have been called into the ultrasound room you may need to remove some clothing. The sonographer will ask you to lift all your clothing off your abdomen up to the level of your ribs. You will also need to lower your trousers/underwear slightly onto your hips. Once you are ready the sonographer will instruct you to lie on your back on the couch. The gel will be cold and the ultrasound probe will be pressed firmly on your tummy area. Normally your sonographer will ask you to keep your arms to your sides and to try and relax your tummy and not “push back” at the ultrasound probe. The scan can be a bit uncomfortable although this depends on how much gas you have in your abdomen at the time of the scan. During the scan the sonographer will ask you to roll onto each side so that the kidneys can be seen more easily. The sonographer will also ask you to “stop breathing”. This means to try and pause in the breath for as long as possible, don’t breath in or exhale but remain perfectly still. The sonographer will be trying to image the tiny arteries within the kidney. Typically a scan of the renal arteries and kidneys will take 30-45 minutes.
The sonographer will check through the images and produce a worksheet with the relevant information which is then rechecked by the vascular surgeon. If you are seeing one of our specialists on the same day as the scan then they will be able to give the result immediately. Otherwise your report will be sent back to the referrer within a day or two. You can contact the referer to arrange a time to discuss the results. If the sonographer identifies any urgent problems then they will discuss it with our vascular specialists and your referrer immediately and let you know if you need to do anything further.
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