Functional Imaging in Nephro-Urology PDF

Preface

In 1967, a first international symposium on radionuclides in nephro-urology was held in Liège (Belgium). The purpose of this symposium was to bring together a group of people with a common interest in the application of radionuclides in nephro-urology. Internists, radiologists, urologists, physiologists and others representing the basic and clinical sciences were brought together for intensive discussions. Since that time, similar meetings were organized by the International Scientific Committee of Radionuclides in Nephrourology (ISCORN) in New York (1971), Berlin (1974), Boston (1978), London (1981), Lausanne (1986), Williamsburg (1989), Chester (1992), Santa Fé (1995), Copenhagen (1998), Monterey (2001) and La Baule (2004). The final purpose of these meetings was the application of the radionuclide techniques in clinical fields such as hypertension, renal transplantation, hydronephrosis and infection. At the same time, a huge amount of methodological studies had given rise to new developments in nuclear medicine. It has been the role of ISCORN to chair consensus conferences, which resulted in a better standardization of radionuclide methods in fields such as measurement of renal clearance, evaluation of renal transit and drainage, application of captopril renography to renovascular disease, cortical scintigraphy in urinary tract infection in children and management of renal transplants.

The meeting, held in May 2004 in La Baule (France), was a kind of achievement. It was the feeling of the Committee that the time had come to bring together the different specialities involved in the strategy of uro-nephrological diseases and to evaluate the potential place of various techniques in the management of patients. The basic structure of the symposium was therefore centred on a series of clinical topics, all of them characterized by a significant number of controversial matters: determination of renal function in child and in adult, antenatally detected hydronephrosis, renal obstruction in adults, renovascular hypertension, renal infection in childhood. Radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, physiologists, paediatric and adult nephrologists, paediatric and adult urologists, all eminent experts in their respective fields, developed the state of the art and constituted then a large panel for long and well-structured discussions with the audience. The most up-to-date developments of the traditional methods were presented by the different speakers, while new techniques, such as functional and molecular imaging with MR, CT and PET appeared as promising approaches. What came out of these multidisciplinary sessions is remarkably similar for all topics, namely a critical appraisal of the traditional strategies of management and a series of potential new directions which might, in the near future, significantly change the clinical management of the patient.

It appeared therefore that the moment was well chosen to reassemble this huge amount of information within a book under the general title of ‘The Role of Functional Imaging in Nephro-urology'. The chapters correspond to the five clinical sessions and for each topic, the contributors provided a detailed and referenced overview of their expertise, completed by a rich iconography.

This book, by its multidisciplinary approach, is a ‘première' and will provide outstanding information to radiologists working on child and adult, to nuclear medicine physicians, to internists and paediatricians, to nephrologists and urologists specialized in child and adult.

We want to express our sincere thanks for help to the other members of the ISCORN committee: Donald Blaufox (New York, USA), Keith Britton (London, UK), Eva Dubovsky (Birmingham, USA), Belkis Erbas (Ankara, Turkey), Jörgen Frökiaer (Aarhus, Denmark), Joseph V. Nally (Cleveland, USA), Patrick O'Reilly (Stockport, UK), Pilar Orellana (Santiago, Chile), Monica Rossleigh (Sydney, Australia), Michael Rutland (Auckland, New Zealand) and Andrew Taylor (Atlanta, USA). Thanks also to the experts of all specialities who contributed by their outstanding presentations to the success of this multidisciplinary event. Their lectures were the starting materials for the different chapters of this book. All of this would not have been possible without the help of the organizing committee (Joseph Lecloirec, MD and Mrs Maïté Lepelletier) who did a great job in making this conference one of the most exciting meetings ISCORN has ever experienced. Finally sincere thanks to Tyco France and Tyco USA whose role in sponsoring the meeting has been essential.