Combination of renal apparent diffusion coefficient and renal parenchymal volume for better assessment of split renal function in chronic kidney disease

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the value of the combination of the split renal apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and renal parenchyma volume (RPV) by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for assessment of split renal function in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). MethodsForty-eight eligible participants (36 CKD patients and 12 healthy individuals) were included in the study. All of them underwent DWI (b = 0 and 800 s/mm2) examination with a 1.5 T MRI scanner to determine the split renal ADC and RPV. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured by 99Tcm-DTPA scintigraphy using Gates’ method and used as the reference standard. All statistical tests were performed using SPSS 20.0 and MedCalc 10.0 statistical software packages. ResultsSplit renal ADC, RPV, and their product were significantly correlated with GFR (γ = 0.493, p < 0.0001; γ = 0.337, p = 0.018; γ = 0.708, p < 0.0001, respectively). The product of split renal ADC and RPV had a significantly higher correlation with GFR (γ = 0.708) than split renal ADC (p = 0.0002) and RPV (p = 0.016). ROC curve analysis showed that the product of split renal ADC and RPV was a significantly better indicator of reduced split renal function (AUC = 0.893) compared to split renal ADC (p = 0.0455) and RPV (p = 0.0326). ConclusionThe combination of split renal ADC and RPV obtained by DWI can significantly improve the assessment of split renal function in CKD patients.