Functional assessment of renal pathologies:Diameter mapping of renal tubules using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging

虽然肾脏的磁共振成像（MRI）已经取得了很大的进展，但活检目前仍然是诊断不明肾脏疾病的首选手段。为了减少活检的次数，从而减少患者的负担和并发症的风险，需要进一步改进肾脏病理的非侵入性诊断成像。除了肾脏解剖的高分辨率MRI外，功能性MRI方法已经发展起来，例如，提供灌注、氧合状态或扩散特性的信息，从而也提供肾脏微观结构的信息。不同的肾脏病理导致肾小管直径的改变，从而导致微观结构的改变。例如，糖尿病引起的小管肥大与小管直径改变有关。因此，特别是在急性和慢性肾功能衰竭中，肾小管的直径可能是早期发现肾脏病变的敏感参数。目前，体外组织提取物的显微结构变化只能通过光镜来确定。该项目的目的是开发一种无创、无对比、基于mri的方法，提供肾实质微观结构的新信息，特别是肾小管的直径。

Although great progress has been obtained in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the kidneys, biopsy is currently still the means of choice for the diagnosis of unclear kidney diseases. In order to reduce the number of biopsies and thus the burden on patients and the risk of complications, a further improvement of the non-invasive diagnostic imaging of kidney pathologies is desirable.In addition to high-resolution MRI of the renal anatomy, functional MRI methods have been developed, for example, to provide information on perfusion, the oxygenation state or diffusion properties and thus also on the microstructure of the kidney.Different kidney pathologies lead to a change of the diameter of the tubules and thus also the microstructure. For example tubular hypertrophy, as caused by diabetes mellitus, is associated with altered tubule diameters. Therefore, especially in acute and chronic renal failure, the diameter of the tubules may be a sensitive parameter for the early detection of renal pathologies. Currently, microstructural changes of the tubular diameters can only be determined by light microscopy of in vitro tissue extracts.The aim of the proposed project is to develop a non-invasive and contrast-free, MRI-based method that provides novel information on the microscopic structure of the renal parenchyma and, in particular, on the diameters of the renal tubules.