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Color-encoded duplex ultrasonography (CEDU) makes a more accurate technique in kidney graft monitoring by combining real-time US with pulsed Doppler studies of renal vasculature. It is a non-invasive and easy technique. Suitable to study the whole renal artery and vein, CEDU also allows the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the intrarenal vasculature and therefore the easy diagnosis of such vessel dysfunctions as arteriovenous fistulas following biopsy. Moreover, Doppler spectral analysis can be used to distinguish among different causes of renal allograft dysfunction--i.e. rejection, cyclosporine nephrotoxicity or acute tubular necrosis. The value of the resistive index for the differential diagnosis is discussed. CEDU allows a more reliable measurement of renal blood flow thanks to the more precise evaluation of renal artery diameter and mean flow velocity.

Fifty-six patients with idiopathic hemochromatosis (50 men and 6 women, mean age 49.7 +/- SD 11.1 and 60.8 +/- SD 10.3 years respectively) were studied and followed up for a median period of 44 months (range 3-168). At basal liver biopsy 44 patients had cirrhosis and 12 fibrosis. Iron depletion was achieved in 39 of the 46 cases who underwent iron removal by erythrocytapheresis. Eighteen patients died, 11 from malignancy and 7 from other causes. A total of 14 malignant neoplasms were observed (6 hepatocellular and 8 extrahepatic), of which 6 (5 hepatocellular and 1 pancreatic) were already evident at enrollment. Cumulative survival rates at 3, 5 and 8 years were 75.4%, 64.2% and 54.4% respectively, significantly lower than those in the general population. Probabilities of developing cancer in the 50 patients without cancer at diagnosis were 5.5%, 14.9% and 44.4% at 3, 5 and 8 years respectively.