Value of T2 Mapping in the Dynamic Evaluation of Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

OBJECTIVE To explore the value of T2 mapping in the dynamic quantitative evaluation of renal ischemia- reperfusion injury (IRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-eight healthy New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into IRI group (n = 40) and control group (n = 8). Rabbits in the IRI group underwent left renal artery clamping for 60 minutes. Rabbits underwent MRI examinations (T2WI and T2 mapping) before and 1, 12, 24, and 48 hours after IRI. The inter-observer and intra-observer reproducibility of the T2 values were assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Correlations between the T2 value of the renal outer medulla and injury scores were assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. The repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the differences in T2 values of the IRI and control group across the different time points. RESULTS Both of the intra-observer (ICC = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99) and inter-observer reproducibility (ICC = 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.96) were excellent for T2 values. The T2 value of the renal outer medulla was moderately positive correlated with tubular epithelial edema (ρ = 0.686, p < 0.001). In IRI group, T2 values of the renal outer medulla were increase at 1 h after IRI (p = 0.001) and were decrease from 1 h to 12 h (p = 0.002). At 1 h after IRI, the T2 values of the renal outer medulla for the IRI group were higher than those for the control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION T2 mapping can reflect the dynamic changes of renal parenchyma in an animal model of IRI and be used to assess the early renal IRI.