Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of Haematology, Oncology and Clinical Immunology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
MAGMA. 2021 Jun;34(3):389-397. doi: 10.1007/s10334-020-00895-9. Epub 2020 Nov 24.
To evaluate the feasibility of in-vivo quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) of the human kidney.
An axial single-breath-hold 3D multi-echo sequence (acquisition time 33 s) was completed on a 3 T-MRI-scanner (Magnetom Prisma, Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) in 19 healthy volunteers. Graph-cut-based unwrapping combined with the T*-IDEAL approach was performed to remove the chemical shift of fat and to quantify QSM of the upper abdomen. Mean susceptibility values of the entire, renal cortex and medulla in both kidneys and the liver were determined and compared. Five subjects were measured twice to examine the reproducibility. One patient with severe renal fibrosis was included in the study to evaluate the potential clinical relevance of QSM.
QSM was successful in 17 volunteers and the patient with renal fibrosis. Anatomical structures in the abdomen were clearly distinguishable by QSM and the susceptibility values obtained in the liver were comparable to those found in the literature. The results showed a good reproducibility. Besides, the mean renal QSM values obtained in healthy volunteers (0.04 ± 0.07 ppm for the right and - 0.06 ± 0.19 ppm for the left kidney) were substantially higher than that measured in the investigated fibrotic kidney (- 0.43 ± - 0.02 ppm).
QSM of the human kidney could be a promising approach for the assessment of information about microscopic renal tissue structure. Therefore, it might further improve functional renal MR imaging.
评估人体肾脏的体内定量磁化率映射（QSM）的可行性。
在 3T-MRI 扫描仪（Siemens Healthineers，德国 Erlangen 的 Magnetom Prisma）上完成了 19 名健康志愿者的轴向单次屏气 3D 多回波序列（采集时间 33s）。采用基于图割的解缠合与 T*-IDEAL 方法相结合，去除脂肪的化学位移并定量上腹部的 QSM。确定并比较了双侧肾脏的整个肾脏、皮质和髓质以及肝脏的平均磁化率值。对 5 名志愿者进行了两次测量以检查可重复性。纳入一名患有严重肾纤维化的患者，以评估 QSM 的潜在临床相关性。
QSM 在 17 名志愿者和患有肾纤维化的患者中成功进行。腹部的解剖结构可通过 QSM 清晰区分，并且在肝脏中获得的磁化率值与文献中发现的值相当。结果显示出良好的可重复性。此外，健康志愿者获得的平均肾脏 QSM 值（右侧为 0.04±0.07ppm，左侧为-0.06±0.19ppm）明显高于纤维化肾脏（-0.43±-0.02ppm）。
人体肾脏的 QSM 可能是评估微观肾组织结构信息的有前途的方法。因此，它可能进一步改善功能性肾磁共振成像。
