DTI and Tractography of the Kidney in Children: Feasibility and Correlation with Functional MR Urography

Camilo James¹, Kassa Darge¹, ², Dmitry Khirchenko¹, Rob Carson¹, Jeffrey I. Berman¹, ²

Indicators of both the structure and function of the pediatric kidney are necessary to differentiate pelvicalyceal dilatations requiring surgery from cases that do not. This study evaluates the feasibility of DTI assessment of normal and abnormal pediatric kidney structure and compares to functional MR urography (fMRU) metrics. DTI of the kidney and contrast-enhanced fMRU was performed at 3T in nine children (6 boys, 3 girls) with a mean age of 4.3 years (range 0.5-14.8 years). DTI and tractography metrics were observed to correlate with parenchyma region and kidney function, suggesting the potential use of tractography as a clinical tool.