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.