A comparative study of MRI texture analysis and histopathology for early renal ischemia-reperfusion injury / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the relationship between MRI texture features with the histopathology in early renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI).Methods:Forty-eight healthy New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into the IRI group ( n=40) and the sham group ( n=8). As for the IRI group, rabbits underwent the left kidney surgery by clamping the left renal artery for 60 mins and then releasing the clamp to establish renal IRI model. The rabbits in the sham group underwent the same operation, but without clamping the left renal artery. MR examination were performed before and at 1 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h after the operations. As for the IR group, eight rabbits were randomly sacrificed at each time point immediately after MR exam. The eight rabbits in the sham group were sacrificed after MR exam at 48 h after the operation. The left kidney was harvested for histopathological examination. The single item score of the histopathological features, the microvessel density (MVD), and the pathological total score were calculated. Differences in the single item score of the histopathological features, MVD, and the pathological total score among IRI group with different time points and sham group were determined using the Kruskal-Wallis test. MRI texture features of the left kidney were extracted. Multiple dimensionality reduction for MRI texture features were performed, and the features associated with the pathological total score were selected. The relationship between MRI texture features with the single item score of the histopathological features and MVD was assessed by Pearson correlation coefficients. Results:There were significant differences in renal tubular brush border destruction, renal tubular epithelial edema, necrosis, cast, interstitial inflammatory cell infiltration, MVD, and the pathological total score in IRI group among the different time points (all P<0.05). T 2WI_S (3, -3) InvDfMom had the highest correlation with renal tubular brush border destruction, renal tubular epithelial edema, necrosis, and cast ( r=0.56, -0.58, 0.62, 0.69, all P<0.01). BOLD_S (4, -4) Correlat had the highest correlation with interstitial inflammatory cell infiltration ( r=0.63, P<0.01). SWI_S (4, 4) DifEntrp had the highest correlation with MVD ( r=0.61, P<0.01). Conclusion:MRI texture analysis can provide valuable information for evaluating early renal IRI.