Rapid measurement of renal artery blood flow with ungated spiral phase-contrast MRI

Purpose: To verify the potential of ungated spiral phase-contrast (USPC), which has been shown to provide accurate and reproducible time-averaged measurements of pulsatile flow, for rapid measurement of renal artery blood flow (RABF) in vivo. Materials and Methods: The RABF rates of 11 normal human subjects and one patient with renal failure were measured with USPC within six seconds. Results: Rapid USPC scans produced reproducible RABF measurements (SD <= 9%) that agreed with the normal RABF rates known from the literature. The RABF rates of the patient with renal failure were substantially less (< 50-65%) than the normal RABF rates. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that it is now possible to obtain rapid and consistent RABF measurements within six seconds with USPC.