Overview

Indications

Scheduling

Patient Prep

Series Details

Filming

Billing

ICD9 Codes

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Old Protocols

RENAL DONOR PROTOCOL

(for GC 1.5 Tesla Cardiac Scanner with CNV3 Software) 

Overview

This renal donor MRA protocol has been refined over 100’s of cases to make it relatively easy and fast to acquire the data and yet still provide a comprehensive patient evaluation.
The entire study can be obtained within 45 minutes. However, when first beginning of this exam, we recommended booking patient into 1 hour time slots.


Spin Echo Loc

SSFSE

Axial T2

3D Gd:MRA

3D PC

Delayed (IVP)

Optional Cine PC

IMAGING PARAMETERS

Plane

Sagittal

Coronal

Axial

Coronal

Axial

Coronal

Axial

Mode

2D

2D

2D

3D

3D

3D

Cine

Pulse Seq

Spin Echo

Spin Echo

Spin Echo

Vasc SPGR utgre 3D

Vasc PC

Vasc SPGR ufgre 3D

Vasc PC

Imaging Options

RC, NPW

Fast, SS

Fast, FC

Fast, MPh, Zip2, Smartprep

FC

Fast, Zip2

--

SCAN TIMING

# of Echoes

1

1

1, ETL=8

1

1

1

1

TE

Min Full

180

102

Minimum

--

Minimum

--

TR

275

--

3025

--

18

4.9

18

Flip Angle

--

--

--

30

25

40

30

Bandwidth

--

31.25

--

62.5

--

62.5

--

ADDITIONAL PARAMETERS (see attached instructions)

SAT

None

None

S,I, FAT

None

None

None

None

ACQUISITION TIMING

Freq

256

256

256

572

256

572

256

Phase

192

256

256

192 (128-256)

160

192

160

NEX

2

--

3

1

1

1

1

Phase FOV

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Locs Before Pause

--

0

0

1

--

--

--

Freq DIR

S/I

S/I

R/L

S/I

R/L

S/I

R/L

Auto Center Freq

Peak

Water

Water

Water

Water

Water

Water

Auto Shim

On

On

Off

On

Off

On

On

Contrast

--

--

--

30 (20-50) ml

30 (20-50) ml

30 (20-50) ml

30 (20-50) ml

SCANNING RANGE

FOV

40 (32-48)

36 (30-48)

32 (26-44)

34 (30-44)

28 (26-40)

38 (28-40)

32

Slice Thickness

10.0

8.0

8.0 (8-12)

3.0 (2-4)

2.5 (2-3)

3.0 (2-5)

3.0

Spacing

Interleave

0

2 (2-3)

--

0

0

0

Start - End

L95 - R95

L100-R100

See Graphic

See Graphic

See Graphic

See Graphic

 

# Slices

20

12

19

32 (28-44)

28 (28 - 60)

36 (20-40)

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scan Time (min:sec)

3:58

0:28

4:55

0:34

7:10

0:35

4:38

 

Common Indications:

  • Plans to donate a kidney

Scheduling Guidelines:

MRA of Abdomen with Gadolinium
45 minute slot any time nurse is available for injecting Gadolinium

Patient Preparation:

  • Start intravenous line (20 or 22 gauge iv) and attach SmartSet (TopSpins. Tel: 734-623-6400) before placing patient into the magnet. This avoids the problem of patient movement during iv placement causing the locator to be inaccurate.
  • Valium (5-10mg po) or Xanax (1-2 mg po) if patient is claustrophobic may be given.

Coil: Med Advances phased array is ideal because it is 48cm large and easily covers abdomen and pelvis to indicate kidneys uretrus and bladder. With very large patient (>200 lb), body coil is acceptable and easiest to use. It provides a large field-of-view (FOV) with homogeneous signal.

Patient Positioning: Supine, feet first.

Landmark: on lower anterior rib margin or just above iliac crest.

 

Series 1: Sagittal Locator

Spin Echo Locator

SSFSE Locator

  • For renal artery imaging, the sagittal plane is the best orientation for the locator.
  • When using the spin echo sequence with interleaved acquisition (as recommended) half of the images are reconstructed half way through the scan. These images can be used to set-up series 2 while you are waiting for series 1 to finish.

Series 2:

Coronal SSFSE covers kidneys, uretrus and bladder and surveys the abdomen and pelvis in the coronal plane.

Series 3: Axial T2 Fat Sat

This sequence helps to evaluate renal masses to determine if they are simple benign cysts or more suspicious for malignancy. It also keeps the scanner busy while you are setting up the 3D Gd MRA (series 3). If the patient has a regular respiratory rhythm, better image quality is possible with respiratory triggering. For respiratory triggering use:

  • RR intervals = 2-3;
  • trigger point = 20%;
  • trigger window =20%;
  • inter-sequence delay = minimum;

Scanning Range for Axial T2

T2 weighted image shows benign cysts

Series 4: Coronal 3D Gd:MRA

This is the main sequence for showing the aorto-iliac and renal artery anatomy. It is essential to have perfect gadolinium infusion timing so that central k-space data will be acquired during the arterial phase of the bolus. Use MR SmartPrep to ensure synchronization of central k-space with the contrast bolus peak.

  • ADDITIONAL PARAMETERS
    • Vascular Screen:
      • Projection Images: 0
      • Collapse: on
    • User CVs Screen:
      • Max Monitor Period&: 35 (30-60)
      • Image Acq. Delay: 6 (5-10)
      • SPECIAL: off
      • Eliptical Centric: on
    • Multi Phase Screen:
      • Phases per Location: 2
      • Delay After Acq.: Minimum

Positioning for Coronal Volume and Tracker

Coronal 3D Gd MRA

  • To determine where to position the 3D Volume, first find the celiac and SMA, the right and left kidneys.
  • Place the tracker on the aorta at the level of the SMA. I prefer to place the tracker on a sagittal image of the aorta (make the tracker 7-10 cm long and 30-40 mm wide and position on aorta completely below SMA). However it is sometimes difficult to find the aorta on a sagittal image and occasionally it is inadvertently placed on the IVC with disastrous results. Fot these reasons, some users find it easier to place the tracker using an axial image. For axial image placement, make the tracker 3-4 cm long by 30-40 cm wide and place on a slice of aorta well below renal arteries.
  • Position 3D volume with
    • top: 3-4 cm above celiac axis
    • posterior: border at posterior margin of kidneys or at least sufficently posterior to include >1/2 of each kidney
    • anterior: border anterior to aorta and anterior to SMA
    • Make sure the acquisition time is short enough so that the patient can suspend breathing for the entire scan. To make the scan time shorter consider
      • Decreasing matrix to 128
      • Decreasing number of slices and increase slice thickness
      • Covering only the essential anatomy
      • Decreasing NEX to 0.5 but be careful because 0.5 NEX produces more k-space artifact
    • Use "fallback" for optimal right-left alignment
    • Check "#of Locs Before Pause" to be sure it is set to 1.
    • Place the patient’s arms over the head or on cushions to get them out from along side the patient where they will wrap around into the imaging volume.
    • Test the iv with saline and then fill the SmartSet with Gd contrast (about 5 ml).
    • Instruct the patient on when to suspend breathing: "This is the most important scan. You will need to hold your breath for 1/2 of the scan, the second half. You can tell when to hold your breath by the change in the sound. Just to be sure there is no confusion, I will squeeze your arm when the sound changes so that you will know exactly when to take in a deep breath and hold it."
    • Start scan: Do not begin injecting until the clock begins to count down: about 15 seconds after starting the scan.
    • When the clock begins counting down, start injecting at about 1-2 cc/sec ( as fast as you can, for a person of average strength using Gd: DTPA with a 20 gauge iv).
    • When the sound stops (bolus detected), signal the patient to Breath Hold by squeezing the patient's arm and instructing, "take a deep breath. Hold your breath."
    • When Gd infusion is complete, flush with 20 cc normal saline.
    • At the end of the arterial phase scan, have the patient take 3-4 quick breaths and then scan again to catch the portal venous phase.
    • Inject 10 mg lasix IV and flush with 20 ml normal saline.

Series 5: Axial 3D Phase Contrast

This sequence provides another high resolution look at the renal arteries and helps in the evaluation of the hemodynamic significance of any renal artery lesions that are present.

Scanning Range for 3D PC

Axial 3D Phase Contrast

  • ADDITIONAL PARAMETERS
    • Vascular Screen:
      • Projection: 0
      • Flow Recon Type: Phase Diff
      • Velocity Encoding: 50
      • Acq. Flow: Direction ALL
      • Collapse: on
      • Flow Analysis: off
      • Additional Flow Images: none
  • Set the Venc = 50cm/sec as the default. Lower it to 40 cm/sec in patients older than 45 and to 30 cm/sec in patients older than 70 years of age.
  • When positioning the 3D volume, remember that the position of the kidneys will be lower during the breathhold in inspiration for the 3D Gd:MRA. Anticipate that the kidney will move 1-2 cm superiorly during free breathing for the 3D PC.
  • It is acceptable to have the FOV slightly smaller than the right-left dimension of the patient’s thorax since phase is mapped A-P and frequency is R-L.
  • If there are accessory renal arteries, than instead of 28 slices that each 2.5 mm thick, change to 60 slices each 2.0 mm thick with 128 phase encoding steps in order to cover more S-I distance.

Series 6: Delayed 3D Gd Excretory Phase:

Include kidneys, ureters and bladder, make sure patient breath holds. Repeat of the ureters are not well seen.

Filming Instructions

Routinely, the 3D gadolinium images are processed on the computer workstation. A montage 12 on 1 sheet or two 6 on 1 sheets are created including:

  • The overall 3D view from the arterial phase (1 image)
  • each renal artery in the coronal plane (2-3 images)
  • each renal artery in the axial plane (1 image)
  • Sagittal celiac and SMA origins (1 image)
  • Length of each kidney from the sagittal locator or from the 3D Gd:MRA sequence (venous phase) (2 images)
  • 3D PC MIP of both renal arteries (1-2 images)
  • Oblique magnified MIPs of iliac arteries (2 images)
  • MIP of excretory phase
  • Any additional pertinent images to show pathology
  • The 3D PC images are printed from a SET BATCH-MOVIE LOOP option available on the computer workstation. From a coronal 3D image of the entire imaging volume, overlapping MIP images are created. The FOV is set to 18 cm.

Billing:

  • MRA of Abdomen 4185

ICD9 Codes:

V66.5

Normal

Kidney Donor Report Template

Re:

Exam: Renal MRA

Exam Date:

 

Clinical Statement: Potential kidney donor

 

Technique:

1.5 Tesla, torso phased array coil, respiratory compensation

Coronal SSFSE

Sagittal T1 of abdomen and pelvis

Axial T2 of kidneys

Coronal 3D Gd:MRA of abdominal aorta and renal arteries

Axial 3D phase contrast MRA post-gadolinium

3D MRA data was reconstructed on a computer workstation

Findings:

Abdominal aorta:

Celiac axis:

SMA

IMA

 

Right Kidney

Kidney length:

Number of arteries:

Number of veins:

Collecting system:

 

Left Kidney

Kidney length:

Number of arteries:

Number of veins:

Collecting system:

 

Delayed images show excretion of contrast by kidneys into the collecting systems and ureters bilaterally.

 

Liver:

Spleen:

Pancreas:

Adrenals:

Retroperitoneum:

 

Right common iliac artery:

Right external iliac artery:

Right internal iliac artery:

 

Left common iliac artery:

left external iliac artery:

Left internal iliac artery:

 

Impression: