Resistance Index, Hilar Artery
CKD, decreased renal blood flow
DISEASE
CKD is also associated with a high resistance index and decreased renal blood flow due to progressive injury and vasoconstriction of the renal vascular system. Therefore, measuring renal resistance indices can represent another surrogate test for kidney repair and improvement. At baseline, the study patient group mean hilar RRI was 0.68, primarily driven by patients with advanced disease (>0.70). Two months post-therapy, 31/36 kidneys showed a reduction (improvement) in RRI to an average of 0.61 (a Δ = 0.07 units). By 6 months, 34/36 kidneys responded, as the group RRI further declined (improved) to 0.57 (Δ = 0.11), which stabilized during the rest of the study until 36 months where the final average (subtracting the 3 patients who died) was calculated as 0.55 (Δ = 0.13) (