Correlation Between Renal Cortical Thickness And Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (EGFR): Evaluation By Non-Contrast-Enhanced Steady-State Free Precession (SSFP) MRI With Spatially Selective IR Pulse

Yasufumi Noda¹, Akihiko Kanki¹, Akira Yamamoto¹, Tsutomu Tamada¹, Yasokawa Kazuya¹, Atsushi Higaki¹, Tomohiro Sato¹, Katsuyoshi Ito¹

The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between renal cortical thickness and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by clearly depicting renal corticomedullary differentiation using steady-state free precession (SSFP) MRI with a spatially selective IR pulse. There was a positive correlation between minimal renal cortical thickness and eGFR. However, there were no significant correlations between maximal renal length and eGFR. This fact suggested that measurement of renal cortical thickness by non-contrast-enhanced SSFP MRI with a spatially selective IR pulse has a potential to evaluate the renal function with higher sensitivity than maximal renal length.