Source
Research Institute, Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Abstract
PURPOSE:
To provide the first comparison of absolute renal perfusion obtained by arterial spin labeling (ASL) and separable compartment modeling of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Moreover, we provide the first application of the dual bolus approach to quantitative DCE-MRI perfusion measurements in the kidney.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Consecutive ASL and DCE-MRI acquisitions were performed on six rabbits on a 1.5 T MRI system. Gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA was administered in two separate injections to decouple measurement of the arterial input function and tissue uptake curves. For DCE perfusion, pixel-wise and mean cortex region-of-interest tissue curves were fit to a separable compartment model.
RESULTS:
Absolute renal cortex perfusion estimates obtained by DCE and ASL were in close agreement: 3.28 ± 0.59 mL/g/min (ASL), 2.98 ± 0.60 mL/g/min (DCE), and 3.57 ± 0.96 mL/g/min (pixel-wise DCE). Renal medulla perfusion was 1.53 ± 0.35 mL/g/min (ASL) but was not adequately described by the separable compartment model.
CONCLUSION:
ASL and DCE-MRI provided similar measures of absolute perfusion in the renal cortex, offering both noncontrast and contrast-based alternatives to improve current renal MRI assessment of kidney function. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2011;. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.