Screening for renal insufficiency following ESUR (European Society of Urogenital Radiology) guidelines with on-site creatinine measurements in an outpatient setting

To report the results and implications for workflow following introduction of ESUR guidelines to screen for potential renal insufficiency (RI) in private practice with on-site creatinine measurements. A total of 1,766 consecutive outpatients scheduled for contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) completed the ESUR questionnaire enquiring about kidney disease, renal surgery, proteinuria, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, gout or use of nephrotoxic drugs. Patients with positive risk factors underwent on-site creatinine measurement and calculation of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Attending radiologists adapted subsequent imaging depending on renal function and presence of risk factors. One or more ESUR risk factors were present in 796 (45.1%) patients, including hypertension (37.7%), nephrotoxic medication (21.3%), diabetes mellitus (8.0%), proteinuria (3.9%), renal disease (4.1%), gout (3.1%) and renal surgery (2.6%). Pre-procedural creatinine measurements revealed severe RI (eGFR < 30 ml min-1 1.73 m-2) in 10 (1.3%) and moderate RI (eGFR 30-59 ml min-1 1.73 m-2) in 106 (13.8%). Imaging work-up was adapted in 132 (16.6%) as follows: reduction of contrast material dose (n = 85), CT without contrast (n = 40), changeover to MRI (n = 3) or scintigraphy (n = 4). Screening for RI following ESUR guidelines requires creatinine measurements in nearly half of outpatients scheduled for CECT and reveals moderate to severe renal impairment in 6.6%. (orig.)