Mike Notohamiprodjo1, Annie Horng1, Ulrike Attenberger1, Olaf Dietrich1, Henrik J. Michaely2, Karin A. Herrmann1, Maximilian F. Reiser1, Christian Glaser1
1Institute for Clinical Radiology, University Hospitals Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany; 2Institute for Clinical Radiology, University Hospital, Mannheim, Bavaria, Germany
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of DTI of the kidney at 3T. Mean Fractional Anisotropy (FA)-values at 3T were not significantly different to 1.5T-measurements. Signal-to-noise-ratio and contrast-to-noise-ratio for cortex and medulla were significantly higher at 3T. However, medullary FA was less reproducible than FA of the cortex and 1.5T-measurements provided slightly lower Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)-values. For calculation of FA, acquisition of 2 b-values and 6 diffusion-directions appeared sufficient. DTI of the kidney may become a valuable tool for studying renal microarchitecture, however a certain field-strength associated variability and varying reproducibility should be considered.
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