Normal renal blood flow measurement using phase-contrast cine magnetic resonance imaging.
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: This study assesses the ability of a cardiac-gated phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to measure renal blood flow (RBF) noninvasively in humans. METHODS: In nine normal volunteers, total RBF in the renal arteries and in the left renal vein was estimated by MRI and correlated with RBF determined by the clearance of para-aminohippuric acid (CPAH) and the hematocrit level. RESULTS: Correlation of RBF estimated from left renal vein flow, with RBF by CPAH-hematocrit, yielded r = .86 (P less than .003). Repeated measurement of RBF by MRI demonstrated a high degree of reproducibility, with coefficients of variation ranging from 4.8% to 8.9%. However, the MRI measurements of arterial flow did not significantly correlate with the standard measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Reproducible noninvasive measurement of normal RBF is possible with the phase-contrast MRI technique used to measure renal venous blood flow.