Research vice chair Lenkinski discusses advances in renal imaging at national workshop
Dr. Robert Lenkinski discussed technologies in the pipeline at the Renal Imaging Workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases on July 12. The two-day event was held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and brought together more than 100 participants from throughout the United States and around the world to focus on charting a path toward functional renal imaging.
Dr. Lenkinski, Vice Chair of Radiology Research and Professor of Radiology and in the Advanced Imaging Research Center presented “CEST and Na23 MRI Approaches for Assessing Renal Function.”
Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging is a relatively new MRI contrast approach in which exogenous or endogenous compounds containing either exchangeable protons or exchangeable molecules are selectively saturated and, after transfer of this saturation, detected indirectly through the water signal with enhanced sensitivity.
Sodium (23Na) MRI provides information on physiology and cellular metabolism through disease-specific contrast.
Dr. Lenkinski said both techniques appear to be very promising in assessing renal function, but more research needs to be done before they can become widely accepted clinical tools.
Dr. Lenkinski holds the Charles A. and Elizabeth Ann Sanders Chair in Translational Research; and the Jan and Bob Pickens Distinguished Professorship in Medical Science, in Memory of Jerry Knight Rymer and Annette Brannon Rymer and Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Pickens.