Abstract #2225

Lenkinski R, Ivanishev A, Maril N, Reynolds H, Rosen Y

The corticomedullary sodium concentration gradient may serve to characterize physiological and pathological processes in the kidneys. We demonstrated the capability of 23Na-MRI to map the sodium distribution in the human kidney at 3mm resolution, in a 24-minute scan. Normal volunteers were scanned at 3T using a home-built quadrature surface-coil and a modified 3D-GRE. The images revealed the multi-medullae structure of the human kidney and enabled the measurement of the sodium gradient. This gradient increased significantly after water deprivation. These results suggest that sodium MRI can serve as a valuable non-invasive method for functional imaging of the human kidney.