Petros Martirosian1, Christina Schraml2,
Nina Franziska Schwenzer2, Gnter Steidle1, Cristina
Rossi1, Andreas Boss2, Vinod Kumar3, Michael
Erb3, Uwe Klose3, Thorsten Feiweier4, Fritz
Schick1
1Section on Experimental Radiology,
University of Tbingen, Tbingen, Germany; 2Department of
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Tbingen, Tbingen,
Germany; 3Section on Experimental Magnetic Resonance of CNS,
University of Tbingen, Tbingen, Germany; 4Department of Magnetic
Resonance, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany
The
aim of the present study was to develop an optimized DTI protocol for the
assessment of the renal medullar architecture in healthy volunteers.
Examinations were performed on a 3T MR scanner, using a respiratory triggered
diffusion-weighted EPI sequence with a monopolar diffusion preparation
scheme. Diffusion-sensitizing gradients with b-values of 400s/mm2
were applied along 30 different directions. Ten slices were acquired with a
voxel size of 223mm3. Tractography was performed in order to
visualize the architecture of renal medulla. The presented protocol provides
high SNR and high spatial resolution with good discrimination between cortex
and medulla and allows for detailed tractography of renal medulla.