Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Fibrotic Kidney

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used for many years for anatomic evaluation of the kidney. Recently developed methods attempt to go beyond anatomy to give information about the health and function of the kidneys. Several methods, including diffusion-weighted MRI, renal blood oxygen level-dependent MRI, renal MR elastography, and renal susceptibility imaging, show promise for providing unique insight into kidney function and severity of fibrosis. However, substantial limitations in accuracy and practicality limit the immediate clinical application of each method. Further development and improvement are necessary to achieve the ideal of a noninvasive image-based measure of renal fibrosis. Our brief review provides a short explanation of these emerging MRI methods and outlines the promising initial results obtained with each as well as current limitations and barriers to clinical implementation.