Claudia
Testa1, Laura Miglio2, David Neil Manners1,
Caterina Tonon1, Emil Malucelli1, Bruno Barbiroli1,
Andrea Pasini2, Giovanni Tani2, Raffaele Lodi1
1MR Spectroscopy Unit, Department of
Internal Medicine, Aging and Nephrology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Bo,
Italy; 2Paediatric Radiology Unit, Department of Woman, Child and
Adolescent Health, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
DTI
was used to evaluate renal damage in patients with chronic pyelonephritis. In
12 children affected by unilateral pyelonephritis as assessed by renal
scintigraphy (Tc99-DMSA), axial DT images were acquired at b-values of 0,
100, 300, 600, 800 s/mm2. The mean diffusivity (D) and fractional anisotropy
(FA) maps were generated for each b-value. We found that FA discriminated
values from cortex and medulla better than D in healthy kidneys. D and FA
decreased in affected kidneys at each b-values, in particular in the cortex
of kidney poles. Changes of D and FA correlated with the degree of
functionality damage found by scintigraphy.