Marica Cutajar1, Stephen D. Marks1,
Jonathan D. Clayden1, Christopher A. Clark1, Isky
Gordon1
1Radiology and Physics, UCL Institute
of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
The
aim of this study was to determine the reproducibility and robustness of
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) in the kidney, to in turn justify the utility
of this method in the clinical environment. DTI provides structural
parameters relatively unstudied in kidney, the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient
(ADC) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA). The ADC gives an indication of the
overall extent of diffusion, while the FA characterises the directionality of
water diffusion in the tissue of interest. Initial studies have found a clear
difference between the renal cortex and medulla for both ADC and FA values
and both parameters were reproducible.