Diagnosis
Listen Using a Stethoscope
Renal artery disease may be diagnosed by your doctor using a stethoscope to listen to the blood flow through your renal arteries.
Diagnostic Tests
However, additional tests may be ordered. These include:
Duplex Ultrasound
This test combines Doppler flow information and conventional imaging information to allow physicians to see the structure of your blood vessels. Duplex ultrasound shows how blood is flowing through your vessels and measures the speed of the flow of blood. It can also be useful to estimate the diameter of a blood vessel as well as the amount of obstruction, if any, in the blood vessel.
Renal Angiography
This is a special x-ray of the blood vessels of the kidneys. An angiogram is a special x-ray examination of blood vessels. Normally, blood vessels do not show up on ordinary x-rays. However, by injecting a dye, called contrast medium, into an artery through a fine plastic tube called a catheter, and taking x-rays immediately afterwards, detailed images of arteries and veins can be produced.
Magnetic Resonance Angiogram (MRA)
An MRA scan also creates detailed three-dimensional images of your blood vessels from magnetic images of slices of your body. The test does not involve radiation.
