Magnetic Resonance Kidney Parenchyma-T2 as a Novel Imaging Biomarker for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease

Objective Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a chronic progressive disorder with a significant disease burden leading to end-stage renal disease in more than 75% of the affected individuals. Although prediction of disease progression is highly important, all currently available biomarkers—including height-adjusted total kidney volume (htTKV)—have important drawbacks in the everyday clinical setting. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate T2 mapping as a source of easily obtainable and accurate biomarkers, which are needed for improved patient counseling and selection of targeted treatment options. Materials and Methods A total of 139 ADPKD patients from The German ADPKD Tolvaptan Treatment Registry and 10 healthy controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging on a clinical 1.5-T system including acquisition of a Gradient-Echo-Spin-Echo T2 mapping sequence. The ADPKD patients were divided into 3 groups according to kidney cyst fraction (0%–35%, 36%–70%,>70%) as a surrogate marker for disease severity. The htTKV was calculated based on standard T2-weighted imaging. Mean T2 relaxation times of both kidneys (kidney-T2) as well as T2 relaxation times of the residual kidney parenchyma (parenchyma-T2) were measured on the T2 maps. Results Calculation of parenchyma-T2 was 6- to 10-fold faster than determination of htTKV and kidney-T2 (0.78 ± 0.14 vs 4.78 ± 1.17 minutes, P
Source: Investigative Radiology - Category: Radiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research