Arterial spin labeling combined with T1 mapping for assessment of kidney function and histopathology in patients with long-term renal transplant survival after kidney transplantation

作者：Bin Jiang, Jie Li, Jiayi Wan, Yangyang Tian, Peng Wu, Rui Xu, Yixing Yu, Ximing Wang, Linkun Hu, Mo Zhu · 发表于：Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.21037/qims-23-1577 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：MRI in cancer diagnosis、Renal and Vascular Pathologies、Lanthanide and Transition Metal Complexes

Background: The long-term survival of kidney transplants is often influenced by various factors, among which renal allograft rejection is the most notable factor. A noninvasive and reliable imaging biomarker correlating with kidney function and histopathology would facilitate longitudinal long-term follow-up of renal allografts. The aim of the study is to investigate the value of arterial spin labeling (ASL) combined with T1 mapping for assessing kidney function in patients with long-term renal transplant survival, and to establish radiological and histopathologic correlations between the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements and kidney allograft biopsy findings. Methods: ], and part of them underwent biopsies. All patients underwent ASL and T1 mapping. MRI parameters were calculated and analyzed. Results: A total of 63 patients (Group A, 30 cases; Group B, 20 cases; and Group C, 13 cases) were included in this cross-sectional study. Cortical T1 increased, whereas renal blood flow (RBF) and ΔT1 [100% × (cortical T1 - medullary T1)/cortical T1] decreased with the decrease of eGFR. The RBF, cortical T1, and ΔT1 values were moderately correlated with eGFR (r=0.569, -0.573, and 0.672, respectively). The MRI parameters were moderately correlated with Banff scores, which determined renal allograft rejection and chronicity. The area under the curve (AUC) for the discrimination of groups A versus B and groups A versus C were 0.740 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.597-0.854, P...