Renal Transplant Duplex

A renal or kidney transplant is a procedure in which a healthy kidney is transplanted into your body to treat kidney failure. The procedure involves precisely suturing the blood vessels of the donor kidney to the recipient’s blood supply. After the complex transplantation procedure, careful post-operative monitoring for possible complications is highly imperative. Optimal blood supply to the transplanted kidney is important for the survival of the organ and can be monitored by a duplex ultrasound procedure. The procedure uses sound waves to produce images of the flow of blood through the vessels. Duplex ultrasound is a process which combines regular ultrasound (produces images of the organs) and Doppler ultrasound (produces images of blood flow through the blood vessels) to view abnormalities in the blood vessels that affect the flow of blood.

During the procedure, you will be asked to lie on your back and a gel is applied on your abdomen. Your doctor passes sound waves through a hand held transducer, which is moved across your abdomen. The waves bounce off the blood moving in the vessels and are received by the transducer, which converts them into electric signals and images that are displayed on a monitor. By examining the images, your doctor can detect any loss of blood supply to a section of the kidney or rejection of the organ. The procedure takes approximately 20 minutes and does not involve any risks.