Evaluation of the Feasibility and Reproducibility of Renal DTI MRI in Healthy Volunteers

Marica Cutajar¹, Stephen D. Marks¹, Jonathan D. Clayden¹, Christopher A. Clark¹, Isky Gordon¹

The aim of this study was to determine the reproducibility and robustness of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) in the kidney, to in turn justify the utility of this method in the clinical environment. DTI provides structural parameters relatively unstudied in kidney, the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA). The ADC gives an indication of the overall extent of diffusion, while the FA characterises the directionality of water diffusion in the tissue of interest. Initial studies have found a clear difference between the renal cortex and medulla for both ADC and FA values and both parameters were reproducible.