Polycystic Kidney Disease Evaluation by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injured PKD1 Knockout Mouse Model

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy of true fast imaging with steady state precession (true-FISP) compared with T2-weighted fast spin echo (T2W-FSE) in monitoring changes in cyst volume and renal expansion in an ischemia reperfusion (IR) injured PKD1 knockout (IKO) mouse model. The animal study was approved by the local institutional authority. A total of 24 mice (14 PKD1 IKO mice and 10 control mice) were sequentially scanned on a 4.7-T scanner from 4 to 12 weeks after IR injury and the cysts and kidney volumes were measured from true-FISP and T2W-FSE MR images. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated for the images generated from both methods. Cyst SNR and CNR in true-FISP images were significantly higher than in images employing the T2W-FSE sequence (P < 0.05). Both methods demonstrated kidney volume increase as well as cyst growth after IR injury in the mouse model. The kidney and cysts volume at different time points were strongly correlated between true-FISP and T2W-FSE measurements (r(kidney) = 0.99, r(cysts) = 0.97). The true-FISP method offers shorter scan times and higher cyst SNR and cyst to kidney tissue contrast than T2W-FSE. Both sequences have identical accuracy in measuring the cysts and kidney volume changes in mice with PKD.