University Children's Hospital Zurich
MR urography (MRU) has been widely accepted as a substitute to intravenous urography for investigating children with a dilated urinary tract after preliminary assessment by US and voiding cystourethrography. Hydro-nephrosis is by far the main indication for MRU because upper tract dilatation is a frequent condition in infants and children. Recent advances in technology have allowed MR to go beyond morphology and to assess renal function parameters such as split renal function and drainage. As in diuretic renal scintigraphy (DRS) intravenous injection of furosemide is performed, in addition to hydration, to create a fluid challenge aimed at facilitating the diagnosis of obstruction. Multiple image volumes are acquired and used to assess the passage of contrast medium through the kidney compartments and urinary tract. Assessment involves the segmentation of kidney compartments for not only volume measurements, but also compartmental MR signal tracking indicating.
"The urography extension that we built into OHIF with the support of Radical Imaging has not only improved the precision and accuracy of our kidney functional assessment, but also reduced radiologist time significantly."