Ingo Hermann, Jorge Chacon‐Caldera, Irène Brumer, Benedikt Rieger, Sebastian Weingärtner, Lothar R. Schad, Frank G. Zöllner
First published: 03 January 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28160
To evaluate the use of magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) for simultaneous quantification of 
and 
in a single breath‐hold in the kidneys.
The proposed kidney MRF sequence was based on MRF echo‐planar imaging. Thirty‐five measurements per slice and overall 4 slices were measured in 15.4 seconds. Group matching was performed for in‐line quantification of 
and 
. Images were acquired in a phantom and 8 healthy volunteers in coronal orientation. To evaluate our approach, region of interests were drawn in the kidneys to calculate mean values and standard deviations of the 
and 
times. Precision was calculated across multiple repeated MRF scans. Gaussian filtering is applied on baseline images to improve SNR and match stability.
and 
times acquired with MRF in the phantom showed good agreement with reference measurements and conventional mapping methods with deviations of less than 5% for 
and less than 10% for 
. Baseline images in vivo were free of artifacts and relaxation times yielded good agreement with conventional methods and literature (deviation 
, 
).
In this feasibility study, the proposed renal MRF sequence resulted in accurate 
and 
quantification in a single breath‐hold.