title: Quantification of renal perfusion: comparison of arterial spin labeling and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide the first comparison of absolute renal perfusion obtained by arterial spin labeling (ASL) and separable compartment modeling of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Moreover, we provide the first application of the dual bolus approach to quantitative DCE-MRI perfusion measurements in the kidney.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive ASL and DCE-MRI acquisitions were performed on six rabbits on a 1.5 T MRI system. Gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA was administered in two separate injections to decouple measurement of the arterial input function and tissue uptake curves. For DCE perfusion, pixel-wise and mean cortex region-of-interest tissue curves were fit to a separable compartment model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Absolute renal cortex perfusion estimates obtained by DCE and ASL were in close agreement: 3.28 ± 0.59 mL/g/min (ASL), 2.98 ± 0.60 mL/g/min (DCE), and 3.57 ± 0.96 mL/g/min (pixel-wise DCE). Renal medulla perfusion was 1.53 ± 0.35 mL/g/min (ASL) but was not adequately described by the separable compartment model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ASL and DCE-MRI provided similar measures of absolute perfusion in the renal cortex, offering both noncontrast and contrast-based alternatives to improve current renal MRI assessment of kidney function.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute, Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeff D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Keith S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: St Lawrence
authors.forename: Hai-Ling Margaret
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D011817:Rabbits; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013113:Spin Labels
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D013113:Spin Labels; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA