Comparison of multi-delay FAIR and pCASL labeling approaches for renal perfusion quantification at 3T MRI

Anita A Harteveld,Anneloes De Boer,Tim Leiner,Suzanne Lisa Franklin,Marijn Van Stralen,Clemens Bos

doi:10.1007/s10334-019-00806-7

Abstract

ObjectiveTo compare the most commonly used labeling approaches, flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) and pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL), for renal perfusion measurement using arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI.MethodsMulti-delay FAIR and pCASL were performed in 16 middle-aged healthy volunteers on two different occasions at 3T. Relative perfusion-weighted signal (PWS), temporal SNR (tSNR), renal blood flow (RBF), and arterial transit time (ATT) were calculated for the cortex and medulla in both kidneys. Bland–Altman plots, intra-class correlation coefficient, and within-subject coefficient of variation were used to assess reliability and agreement between measurements.ResultsFor the first visit, RBF was 362 ± 57 and 140 ± 47 mL/min/100 g, and ATT was 0.47 ± 0.13 and 0.70 ± 0.10 s in cortex and medulla, respectively, using FAIR; RBF was 201 ± 72 and 84 ± 27 mL/min/100 g, and ATT was 0.71 ± 0.25 and 0.86 ± 0.12 s in cortex and medulla, respectively, using pCASL. For both labeling approaches, RBF and ATT values were not significantly different between visits. Overall, FAIR showed higher PWS and tSNR. Moreover, repeatability of perfusion parameters was better using FAIR.DiscussionThis study showed that compared to (balanced) pCASL, FAIR perfusion values were significantly higher and more comparable between visits.

Highlights

Renal perfusion is a valuable physiological parameter for assessing kidney function and identifying pathology [1]
This resulted in 15 complete data sets from the first visit and 12 available complete data sets in the same subjects from the second visit that were used for analysis
The current study focused on comparing multi-delay arterial spin labeling (ASL) measurements with the two labeling approaches most commonly used in the kidney, flow-sensitive alternating inversion-recovery pulsed ASL (FAIR) and pseudocontinuous ASL (pCASL)

Summary

Introduction

Renal perfusion is a valuable physiological parameter for assessing kidney function and identifying pathology [1]. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been emerging as a method for measurement of renal perfusion [2] that does not warrant. Renal perfusion is a relatively new application area of ASL-MRI. In the white paper for brain ASL [9], pseudocontinuous ASL (pCASL) is the recommended labeling approach. The most commonly used labeling approach for renal ASL far has been flow-sensitive alternating inversion-recovery pulsed ASL (FAIR) [2]. FAIR has the advantage of higher labeling efficiency and lower specific absorption rate, whereas pCASL

Methods

Results

Conclusion