Early detection of subclinical pathology in patients with stable kidney graft function by arterial spin labeling

ConclusionsCortical ASL is useful for the identification of allografts with underlying pathologies. More importantly, ASL showed promise as a non-invasive tool for the clinical translation of identifying kidney allografts with subclinical pathology.Key Points• Cortical ASL values were decreased in kidney allografts with subclinical pathologic changes as compared with normal allografts (152.5 ± 38.9 ml/min/100 g vs 204.7 ± 44.9 ml/min/100 g, p< 0.001).• Cortical ASL differentiated allografts with pathologic changes and subclinical pathology group from normal group with an AUC of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.83–0.97) and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64–0.91) respectively.• Cortical ASL discriminated allografts with underlying pathologic changes from normal allografts with a specificity of 100%, and combined use of proteinuria and cortical ASL values could also achieve 100% specificity for discriminating allografts with subclinical pathology from normal allografts.
Source: European Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: research