Microvascular Doppler ultrasound in children with acute pyelonephritis.

Aims To compare the diagnostic performance of microvascular Doppler ultrasonography (MVUS) to B-mode and con-ventional colour Doppler US (CDUS) for detecting acute pyelonephritis (APN) lesions in children. Material and methods An IRB-approved retrospective study was performed. From July 2018 to January 2019, 41 APN lesions in 28 children (15 boys, 13 girls; age range, 1-196 months; mean age, 53 months) who underwent 99mTc‒dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scintig-raphy (DMSA) or contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) and US including B-mode, CDUS, and MVUS were enrolled in this study. Three paediatric radiologists independently reviewed the B-mode, CDUS and MVUS images for the DMSA or CECT-proven APN lesions and evaluated the lesion visibility, lesion distinguishability and diagnostic confidence between the MVUS and CDUS images. Results A total 41 of APN lesions were verified by DMSA (41 lesions) or CECT (3 lesions) during the same hospitalization period with renal US. Among 41 APN lesions, 52.8% was visible on B-mode, 85.4% on CDUS, and 94.3% on MVUS (p Conclusions MVUS showed improved detectability of hypoperfused areas in paediatric APN and provided higher diagnostic confidence.