Research progress of renal function evaluation using computed tomography

Renal function evaluation is essential before clinical therapy in patients with renal diseases. In addition to measuring renal function by analyzing serum creatinine, a variety of imaging methods are available. Among the methods, the SPECT has become the gold standard in renal function evaluation. With the development of software and hardware of computed tomography (CT) devices, CT can evaluate pathological and function of the kidney at single imaging session. It can measure glomerular filtration rate value semi-quantitatively or quantitatively, and provides other physiological indicators for clinical assessment preoperatively. In this review we focused on renal function evaluation using CT devices. (authors)