Use of arterial spin labeling MRI in differentiating fat-poor angiomyolipoma from clear cell renal cell carcinoma

In this study, we aimed to test if arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI can be used to differentiate renal fat-poor angiomyolipoma (AML) from the clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). To achieve this goal, we compared the ASL derived parameters including tumor blood flow (TBF), tumor-to-cortex ratio, and tumor-to-medulla ratio between fat-poor AML and ccRCC. Our results showed that TBF, tumor-to-cortex and tumor-to-medulla ratios were notably higher in ccRCC group than in fat-poor AML group (270.49±78.88ml/100g/min vs. 146.68±47.21ml/100g/min, 1.22±0.26 vs. 0.74±0.14, 3.13±0.94 vs. 1.77±0.55; p<0.05), indicating that ASL MRI can be an effective tool in differentiating fat-poor AML from ccRCC.