Ultrasound imaging in chronic renal failure or chronic medical renal disease

Chronic medical renal disease is characterized sonographically by firstly loss of

cortico-medullary differentiation followed by increased cortical echogenicity

It is much later that there is a decrease in the vascularity of the kidneys.

At times the kidneys may be very poorly visualised due to the increased cortical echogenicity. In fact in extreme cases and end stage renal disease the kidneys may not be seen at all during ultrasound imaging. Another important feature in chronic medical renal disease is the small size of the kidneys signifying atrophic changes in the kidneys. The ultrasound images below show one typical case of chronic medical renal disease:
Both kidneys are shown in the ultrasound image below with typical changes described about:

Colour Doppler images of the left and right kidneys show diminished vascularity in both kidneys. This is an ominous sign and signifies and imminence of end-stage renal disease in the not too distant future.

 See more at: http://www.ultrasound-images.com/kidneys.htm#Chronic_renal_failure