Yung-Chieh Chang1, Mu-Ch Chung2, Kuo-Hsiung Shu2, Hao-Chung Ho3, Yen-Chieh Ouyang4, Jyh-Wen Chai1, and ClaytonChi-Chang Chen1
1Department of Radiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan, 2Division of Nephrology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan, 3Division of Urolog, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan, 4Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, Taiwan
Synopsis
The
goal of the present study was to perform IVIM-DWI and non-contrast MRA of graft
kidneys to evaluate the micro- and micro-structural status in 17 patients within 48 hours after transplantation. Five of them had a
second scan in six months later. The experimental results suggested that
D*, D and f values in IVIM-DWI might considerably be useful in early detection
of functional change graft kidneys and non-contrast MRA and PC-MRI could
effectively assess patency and flow rates of graft vessels. Combination of both
IVIM-DWI and non-contrast MRA would be potentially promising in clinical
application for monitoring graft kidneys.Purpose
Kidney
transplantation is the most important therapy for patients with
dialysis-dependent renal insufficiency. Delayed graft function is a form of acute renal failure that results in
post-transplantation oliguria. Recently, the pathophysiology of renal ischemia,
reperfusion injury, vascular or ureteral obstruction has been recognized as the
consequence to the development of delayed graft function, but there was a lack
of imaging characteristics to demonstrate or interpolate the structural and functional
changes of the graft renal parenchyma. There is growing interest in applying
the intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)-based diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)
to extend the clinical applications of DWI, which makes it possible to separate
tissue diffusivity and micro-capillary perfusion by a bi-exponential fitting
analysis of DWI images with a number of b-values. In this experiment, we
attempted to perform intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MRI in 48 hours after
renal transplantation and there are some patients coming back to the clinic for following-up
condition after six months to evaluate the micro-structural
and microcirculation status of graft kidneys. The goal of the
present study is to perform IVIM MRI and non-contrast MRI and MRA in patients
after renal transplantation to evaluate the micro- and macrocirculation status
of graft kidneys.
Materials and Methods
Seventeen
patients (10 men, 7 women; mean age 47.0±12.1, range 20-63)
with kidney allografts were scanned by a 1.5T wholebody (Aera, Siemens) in 48
hours after renal transplantation and 5 of them had a second scan in six months later. Fast spin echo T1WI, T2WI and IVIM-DWI sequences
were acquired in the long-axis coronal section of graft kidneys with the same
spatial encoding coordination, except matrix sizes. The Institutional Review
Board of TCVGH reviewed and approved the experimental protocol and the consent
procedure. Other sequences included 3D-TrueFISP non-contrast
MRA, 2D TOF and gated phase-contrast MRA to estimate the macro-circulation of
graft kidneys. IVIM sequence was performed by using free-breathing
single spin-echo echo-planar-imaging (SE-EPI). The imaging parameters were
TR/TE=2000/61ms, FOV=306*306mm, matrix size =128*128, scan time=240 s, nine
b-values of 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 300, 500 and 800 s/mm2.We used varality of algorithms to segment parenchyma part from allograft kidneys of MR images. They can be
divided into the renal parenchyma to do analysis. Three IVIM parameters were calculated by using the
built-in bi-exponential analysis software in Siemens system (Dr. Bernd Kuhn, Siemens
AG, Healthcare), including the
diffusion coefficient of slow or non-perfusion-based molecular diffusion (D;um2/ms),
which represents pure molecular diffusion; the diffusion coefficient of fast or
perfusion-based molecular diffusion (D*;um2/ms), which represents
intravoxel microcirculation or perfusion; and perfusion fraction (f or PF; %).
Results
In this study, the results showed that mean volume of graft renal
parenchyma calculated after segmentation were 144±2.7 mL in 17 patients. For the IVIM-derived
parameters, mean f of 17.76±6.3,
and mean D of 1.71±0.13 um2/ms and D* of 10.26±3.3 um2/ms. On non-contrast MRA, patent graft arteries and
veins were demonstrated. Mean graft renal arterial and venous blood flows were
5.6±2.1 mL/s and 5.6±1.84 mL/s using PC-MRA as shown on Table 1.
For comparing the relationship
of the macro- and micro-circulations in graft kidneys, there existed a median
linear relationship between f values and the values of “the mean arterial
flow/graft renal volume (A flow/Volume GK)” (r = 0.567), a weak relationship
between D* values and “A flow/Volume GK” values (r = 0.307), and no
relationship between D values and “A flow/Volume GK” values (r < 0.1). Comparison of examination in 48 hours after renal
transplantation and follow-up after six months, we will know that D and D*
values be increased slightly. Otherwise the PF value be decreased on Table 2. And we
will found that changes in renal function about CREAT and DW-IVIM parameters
values, The D and D* values decreased when the CREAT (creatinine) increase as shown on Table 3. Comparison
of successful kidney transplantation and failure cases, the failure cases about
D, D*, and PF values decreased because one patient has clinical exclusion and
the other one patient has delayed graft function shown on Table 4.
Conclusion
The experimental results suggest that diffusion
parameters of D*, D and f values in IVIM-DWI might considerably be useful in
early detection of functional change graft kidneys and non-contrast MRA and
PC-MRI could effectively assess patency and flow rates of graft vessels. Combination
of both IVIM-DWI and non-contrast MRA would be potentially promising in clinical
application for monitoring graft kidneys.
Acknowledgements
No acknowledgement found.References
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[4] Dow-Mu Koh DM,et al. AJR 2011;196:1351-1361