Department of Radiology, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 55, Lane 4, RenMin Road (South), Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37# Guoxue Street, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 23;9(1):10661. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46996-x.
Clinically, when applying multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations in renal diseases, assessment of renal structure and function has to account for age- and sex-related effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of age and sex on multiparametric MRI assessment of renal structure and function in healthy human beings. Studies on 33 healthy volunteers were performed using multiparametric MRI on a 3.0-Tesla MR scanner, including T1-weighted imaging, blood oxygen level-dependent MRI (BOLD MRI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Our results revealed that the mean renal cortical thickness (RCT), ratio of cortex to parenchyma (CPR), and cortical R2* values were higher in males than in females. The cortical R2* value was higher in older group than in younger group (18.57 ± 0.99 vs 17.53 ± 0.58, p = 0.001); there was no significant difference in medullary R2* between the older and younger groups (38.18 ± 2.96 vs 36.45 ± 2.47, p = 0.077). The parenchymal thickness (PT) and medullary fractional anisotropy (FA) were lower in older group than in younger group (1.547 ± 0.06 vs 1.604 ± 0.05, p = 0.005 and 0.343 ± 0.03 vs 0.371 ± 0.03, p = 0.016, respectively). Pearson's correlation analysis showed that PT and medullary FA were inversely related with age (r = -0.483, p = 0.004; r = -0.446, p = 0.009) while cortical R2* values was positively related (r = 0.511, p = 0.002, respectively). The medullary apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value had a significant association with PT (r = 0.359, p = 0.04). This study indicated that multiparametric renal MRI parameters are age and sex dependent.
临床上，在应用多参数磁共振成像（MRI）检查肾脏疾病时，评估肾脏结构和功能必须考虑年龄和性别相关的影响。本研究旨在探讨年龄和性别对健康人群多参数 MRI 评估肾脏结构和功能的影响。在 3.0T 磁共振扫描仪上对 33 名健康志愿者进行多参数 MRI 研究，包括 T1 加权成像、血氧水平依赖 MRI（BOLD MRI）、扩散加权成像（DWI）和扩散张量成像（DTI）。我们的结果表明，男性的平均肾皮质厚度（RCT）、皮质与实质比（CPR）和皮质 R2值高于女性。皮质 R2值在老年组高于年轻组（18.57±0.99 比 17.53±0.58，p=0.001）；老年组和年轻组之间髓质 R2值无显著差异（38.18±2.96 比 36.45±2.47，p=0.077）。老年组的实质厚度（PT）和髓质各向异性分数（FA）低于年轻组（1.547±0.06 比 1.604±0.05，p=0.005 和 0.343±0.03 比 0.371±0.03，p=0.016）。Pearson 相关分析表明，PT 和髓质 FA 与年龄呈负相关（r=-0.483，p=0.004；r=-0.446，p=0.009），而皮质 R2值与年龄呈正相关（r=0.511，p=0.002）。髓质表观扩散系数（ADC）值与 PT 有显著相关性（r=0.359，p=0.04）。本研究表明，多参数肾脏 MRI 参数受年龄和性别影响。
