Diffusion tensor MRI of the human kidney

This study characterizes the diffusion anisotropy of the human kidney using a diffusion-weighted, single-shot echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence in or der to access the full apparent diffusion tensor (ADT) within one breathhol d. The fractional anisotropy (FA) of the cortex and the medulla were found to be 0.22 +/- 0.12 and 0.39 +/- 0.11, respectively (N = 10), which emphasi zes the need for rotationally invariant diffusion measurements for clinical applications. Additional limitations for clinical diffusion imaging on the kidney are the strong susceptibility variations within the abdomen that re strict the use of imaging techniques employing long echo trains, and the se vere motion sensitivity that limits the available imaging time to one breat h-hold. To overcome these problems an Isotropic, diffusion-weighted, segmen ted EPI protocol that facilitates the acquisition of high-resolution diffus ion-weighted images within a single breath-hold was Implemented. Using this method, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the cortex and medulla were found to be 2.89 +/- 0.28 (.) 10(-9) m(2)/s and 2.18 +/- 0.36 (.) 10( -9) m(2)/s (N = 10). (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.