Measuring Renal Function During Routine Clinical MR Exams: Is 5 Min Enough?

Jeff Lei Zhang¹, Henry Rusinek¹, Keyma Prince¹, Hersh Chandarana¹, David Stoffel¹, Louisa Bokacheva¹, Qun Chen¹, Pippa Storey¹, Vivian S. Lee¹

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measured by MR renography (MRR) is widely used in clinical practice for evaluating various renal diseases. MRR of short scan time has advantages of patient convenience and lower cost. Monte Carlo simulation and patient study were performed with different shortened scan time, and the precision and accuracy of the GFR estimates were compared with the reference values. The results showed that a low-dose MR renography scan time of less than 5 min appeared to be sufficient for GFR measurement.