Renal 123I-MIBG Scintigraphy Before and After Kidney Autotransplantation

A 25-year-old man underwent an autotransplantation of his right kidney because of fibromuscular dysplasia-induced renal artery stenosis and subsequent hypertension. Since transplantation results in complete kidney denervation, it enabled assessment of renal sympathetic nerve activity changes using renal I-MIBG scintigraphy. Before and 2 weeks after transplantation I-MIBG, scintigraphy was performed. Uptake of I-MIBG in the left (control) kidney increased after transplantation with 4% at 15 minutes and 5% at 4 hours postinjection images, whereas I-MIBG uptake in the right transplanted kidney decreased with 21% at 15 minutes and with 29% at 4 hours, demonstrating renal I-MIBG changes after denervation.