Hersh Chandarana1, Vivian S. Lee1, Irina Barash2, Eric E. Sigmund1
1Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; 2Nephrology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Diffusion tensor imaging allows non-invasive evaluation of renal structure and function. Renal medulla has been shown to have higher fractional anisotropy (FA) compared to cortex, but it is unclear if medullary FA is predominantly a measure of tubular structural arrangement or if it is significantly influenced by tubular flow. We examined changes in renal FA prior to and in response to water loading. Our study demonstrates a trend to faster, more isotropic diffusion with water loading. Since water-loading is known to increase tubular flow, these results suggest that tubular flow plays little or no role in baseline medullary diffusion anisotropy.