Intravoxel incoherent motion MR imaging of the kidney: pilot study.

MR examinations (Achieva 3 T, Philips, Best, The Netherlands) were performed at five different occasions in a healthy volunteer (male 60 years) and in one renal cancer patient (male 78 years) with normal renal function (creatinine 88 μmol/L). Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) coefficients D + D* were measured using respiratory-triggered diffusion-weighted spin-echo echo-planar imaging. Perfusion data of the patient were acquired using a saturation-recovery gradient-echo sequence and with the bolus of Gd-BOPTA (Multihance). D + D* were computed by monoexponential fitting of MR signal intensity attenuation versus b for b = 0, 50, 100, 150 s/mm(2). Perfusion parameters were evaluated with "NordicICE" software. The map of D + D* was compared qualitatively with the perfusion map computed from the Gd scan. D + D* values of the cortex and medulla were in the range 2.3-2.7 and 1.1-1.6 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s, respectively. In conclusion, in this pilot study a good qualitative relation between IVIM variables D + D* and renal perfusion has been found.