Background: Preventing sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (S-AKI) can be challenging because it develops rapidly and is often asymptomatic. Probability assessment of disease progression for therapeutic follow-up and outcome are important to intervene and prevent further damage.
Purpose: To establish a noninvasive multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) tool, including T1 , T2 , and perfusion mapping, for probability assessment of the outcome of S-AKI.
Study type: Preclinical randomized prospective study.
Animal model: One hundred and forty adult female SD rats (65 control and 75 sepsis).
Field strength/sequence: 9.4T; T1 and perfusion map (FAIR-EPI) and T2 map (multiecho RARE).
Assessment: Experiment 1: To identify renal injury in relation to sepsis severity, serum creatinine levels were determined (31 control and 35 sepsis). Experiment 2: Animals underwent mpMRI (T1 , T2 , perfusion) 18 hours postsepsis. A subgroup of animals was immediately sacrificed for histology examination (nine control and seven sepsis). Result of mpMRI in follow-up subgroup (25 control and 33 sepsis) was used to predict survival outcomes at 96 hours.
Statistical tests: Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman/Pearson correlation (r), P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Severely ill septic animals exhibited significantly increased serum creatinine levels compared to controls (70 ± 30 vs. 34 ± 9 μmol/L, P < 0.0001). Cortical perfusion (480 ± 80 vs. 330 ± 140 mL/100 g tissue/min, P < 0.005), and cortical and medullary T2 relaxation time constants were significantly reduced compared to controls (41 ± 4 vs. 37 ± 5 msec in cortex, P < 0.05, 52 ± 7 vs. 45 ± 6 msec in medulla, P < 0.05). The combination of cortical T2 relaxation time constants and perfusion results at 18 hours could predict survival outcomes at 96 hours with high sensitivity (80%) and specificity (73%) (area under curve of ROC = 0.8, Jmax = 0.52).
Data conclusion: This preclinical study suggests combined T2 relaxation time and perfusion mapping as first line diagnostic tool for treatment planning.
Level of evidence: 2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 2.
Keywords: S-AKI; T1 and T2 relaxation time; multiparametric MRI; perfusion; sepsis.
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.