Huaiqiang Sun1, 2, Lan Lu2, David L. Wilson1, Katherine M. Dell3, 4, Chris A. Flask, 12
1Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States; 2Radiology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States; 3Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, and Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital, Cleveland, OH, United States; 4CWRU Center for the Study of Kidney Disease and Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States
Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD) is a multiorgan disease manifest as increasing renal cysts as well as hepatobiliary dilatation and congenital hepatic fibrosis. We are exploring the potential of T2 relaxation assessments to assess renal cystic burden and hepatobiliary dilatation in the PCK rat model of ARPKD. In this study, we demonstrated that removal of early echoes (TE = 10-30ms) from the T2 calculation can reduce the biexponential nature of the T2 decay curve likely caused by tissue perfusion. As a result, these T2 estimations may provide accurate estimates of hepatobiliary dilatation as well as renal cystic burden.