Assessment of chronic allograft injury in renal transplantation using diffusional kurtosis imaging

Abstract

Background Chronic allograft injury (CAI) is a significant reason for which many grafts were lost. The study was conducted to assess the usefulness of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) technology in the non-invasive assessment of CAI. Methods Between February 2019 and October 2019, 110 renal allograft recipients were included to analyze relevant DKI parameters. According to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (mL/min/ 1.73 m2) level, they were divided to 3 groups: group 1, eGFR ≥ 60 (n = 10); group 2, eGFR 30–60 (n = 69); group 3, eGFR < 30 (n = 31). We performed DKI on a clinical 3T magnetic resonance imaging system. We measured the area of interest to determine the mean kurtosis (MK), mean diffusivity (MD), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the renal cortex and medulla. We performed a Pearson correlation analysis to determine the relationship between eGFR and the DKI parameters. We used the receiver operating characteristic curve to estimate the predicted values of DKI parameters in the CAI evaluation. We randomly selected five patients from group 2 for biopsy to confirm CAI. Results With the increase of creatinine, ADC, and MD of the cortex and medulla decrease, MK of the cortex and medulla gradually increase. Among the three different eGFR groups, significant differences were found in cortical and medullary MK (P = 0.039, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively). Cortical and medullary ADC and MD are negatively correlated with eGFR (r = − 0.49, − 0.44, − 0.57, − 0.57, respectively; P < 0.001), while cortical and medullary MK are positively correlated with eGFR (r = 0.42, 0.38; P < 0.001). When 0.491 was set as the cutoff value, MK's CAI assessment showed 87% sensitivity and 100% specificity. All five patients randomly selected for biopsy from the second group confirmed glomerulosclerosis and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis. Conclusion The DKI technique is related to eGFR as allograft injury progresses and is expected to become a potential non-invasive method for evaluating CAI.

Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Investigations on Acute and Long‐Term Kidney Injury

“…60 Higher MK values in patients with compromised renal function after kidney transplantations may be partially explained by interstitial fibrosis. 61 It has also been reported that the inflammatory cell infiltration, tubular atrophy, and interstitial fibrosis would result in the MK increase in DKI measurements in CKD. 62 A significantly positive correlation has been reported between tubulointerstitial lesion scores and renal parenchymal MK values (cortex, r = 0.650; medulla, r = 0.599) in subjects with mild renal injury.…”

“…Increases in MK in renal diseases are indicative of greater heterogeneity of microenvironments in renal tissue, accompanied by functional deteriorations and structural abnormalities 60 . Higher MK values in patients with compromised renal function after kidney transplantations may be partially explained by interstitial fibrosis 61 . It has also been reported that the inflammatory cell infiltration, tubular atrophy, and interstitial fibrosis would result in the MK increase in DKI measurements in CKD 62 .…”