CASE 44: Improved Renal Artery Velocities 24-72 Hours Post-Transplantation

Power Doppler ultrasound evaluation in the immediate post-operative period showing good perfusion of a transplanted kidney procured from a donor after circulatory death (DCD). Organs from DCD donors have a greater incidence of delayed graft function than organs from brain dead donors.

A spectral Doppler ultrasound study 24 hours after implantation shows satisfactory waveforms with elevated velocities in the main renal artery.

A study 72 hours after implantation shows that the velocities have improved (decreased). Such findings are not unusual in the early post-operative days. We routinely monitor elevated velocities as long as the waveforms show a strong systolic upstroke, there is no evidence of diastolic reversal of arterial flow, and there are no clinical findings to suggest vascular compromise.