Study of Kidney SWI under Oxygenation Variation after Water Uptake - Initial Results

sclerosis [2], stroke and hemorrhagic lesions [3], but is also a useful tool to visualize venous structures with diameters in the submillimeter range [4]. In the kidney, there are many diseases that may lead to an impaired function particularly longstanding diabetes mellitus, renal artery stenosis but also acute and chronic rejection after renal transplantation [5]. This is the reason why knowledge about the vessel structure and the degree of oxygenation is of great interest. SWI has not been established for renal imaging yet, but offers a valuable tool for abdominal measurements. Although it has recently been shown, that SWI is applicable to the abdomen [6], the technique is still in its infancy. Since SWI is based on the usage of blood as an intrinsic marker of blood oxygenation, it is very interesting to investigate the effect of an induced increase of blood flow, resulting in a higher blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast. In this study, the higher kidney function and the accompanying higher blood flow are realized by water uptake. Images have been acquired before and after water uptake in constant time intervals. A quantitative comparison of the state before and after water uptake is possible by contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) calculation. Study of Kidney SWI under Oxygenation Variation after Water Uptake Initial Results