The hypothesis underlying this proposal is that qMT reliably detects development of allograft fibrosis in human subjects after KT. To test this hypothesis, the qMT-derived bound pool fraction will be correlated with renal fibrosis as per biopsy in 20 patients 4 or 7 years after living donor KT. The bound pool fraction will also be compared to renal blood flow, oxygenation, and function, and the ability of qMT to provide consistent assessments of fibrosis tested at different magnetic field strengths. Two specific aims will test the hypotheses that: Specific Aim 1: qMT provides reliable and consequential assessment of fibrosis in human kidney allografts. Specific Aim 2: Renal fibrosis assessed by qMT in human kidney allografts is reproducible at 1.5 T and 3.0 T.
The purpose of this study is to validate an MRI method to detect renal fibrosis in patients after kidney transplantation (KT).