Comparing the interobserver reproducibility of different regions of interest on multi-parametric renal magnetic resonance imaging in healthy volunteers, patients with heart failure and renal transplant recipients

OBJECTIVE: To assess interobserver reproducibility of different regions of interest (ROIs) on multi-parametric renal MRI using commercially available software. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Healthy volunteers (HV), patients with heart failure (HF) and renal transplant recipients (Tx) were recruited. Localiser scans, T1 mapping and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) were performed. HV and Tx also underwent diffusion-weighted imaging to allow calculation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). For T1, pCASL and ADC, ROIs were drawn for whole kidney (WK), cortex (Cx), user-defined representative cortex (rep-Cx) and medulla. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CoV) were assessed. RESULTS: Forty participants were included (10 HV, 10 HF and 20 Tx). The ICC for renal volume was 0.97 and CoV 6.5%. For T1 and ADC, WK, Cx, and rep-Cx were highly reproducible with ICC ≥ 0.76 and CoV < 5%. However, cortical pCASL results were more variable (ICC > 0.86, but CoV up to 14.2%). While reproducible, WK values were derived from a wide spread of data (ROI standard deviation 17% to 55% of the mean value for ADC and pCASL, respectively). Renal volume differed between groups (p < 0.001), while mean cortical T1 values were greater in Tx compared to HV (p = 0.009) and HF (p = 0.02). Medullary T1 values were also higher in Tx than HV (p = 0.03), while medullary pCASL values were significantly lower in Tx compared to HV and HF (p = 0.03 for both). DISCUSSION: Kidney volume calculated by manually contouring a localiser scan was highly reproducible between observers and detected significant differences across patient groups. For T1, pCASL and ADC, Cx and rep-Cx ROIs are generally reproducible with advantages over WK values. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10334-019-00809-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.