Perfusion Analysis of Kidney Injury in Rats With Cirrhosis Induced by Common Bile Duct Ligation Using Arterial Spin Labeling MRI

Background Arterial spin labeling (ASL) has been proven to be effective in ischemia‐induced acute kidney injury (AKI); however, validation of ASL magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is limited in AKI in the presence of cirrhosis. Purpose To investigate the feasibility of ASL in revealing renal blood flow (RBF) changes in kidney injury in the presence of cirrhosis and to assess its value in the early diagnosis of disease. Study Type Longitudinal. Animal Model Rats were randomized into baseline group ( N = 3), sham surgery group ( N = 18), and common bile duct ligation (BDL) group ( N = 48). All groups were divided into six subgroups based on different sacrificed time points. Field Strength/Sequence 3 T scanner, prototypic pulsed ASL sequence using flow‐sensitive alternating inversion recovery preparation, half‐Fourier acquisition single‐shot turbo spin echo sequence. Assessment RBF measurement was performed by ASL. Hematoxylin–eosin (HE) score, Hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1alpha (HIF‐1α) score, peritubular capillar (PTC) density, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, serum total bilirubin, total bile acids, serum creatinine (Scr), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were harvested. Statistical Tests Analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and receiver operating characteristic curves were performed. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results RBF, HE score, HIF‐1α score, and PTC density after BDL were significantly different from baseline. RBF was highly correlated with HE score, HIF‐1α score, and PTC density ( r = −0.7598, r = −0.7434, r = 0.6406, respectively). RBF and Scr began to differ significantly from baseline at day 3 and 7 after intervention, respectively. The areas under the curves of RBF, Scr, and BUN for distinguishing non‐AKI from AKI in cirrhosis were 1.00, 0.888, and 0.911, while those for distinguishing mild from severe kidney injury were 0.961, 0.830, and 0.857, respectively. Data Conclusion ASL allows the longitudinal assessment of the degree of AKI induced by cholestatic cirrhosis in rats and can serve as a noninvasive marker for the early and accurate diagnosis of AKI. Level of Evidence 2 Technical Efficacy Stage 2