Transplantology (Apr 2021)

Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent (BOLD) MRI in Glomerular Disease

  • Daniel R. Nemirovsky,
  • Puneet Gupta,
  • Sophia Hu,
  • Raymond Wong,
  • Avnesh S. Thakor

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/transplantology2020011
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 2
pp. 109 – 117

Abstract

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Renal hypoxia has recently been implicated as a key contributor and indicator of various glomerular diseases. As such, monitoring changes in renal oxygenation in these disorders may provide an early diagnostic advantage that could prevent potential adverse outcomes. Blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD MRI) is an emerging noninvasive technique for assessing renal oxygenation in glomerular disease. Although BOLD MRI has produced promising initial results for the use in certain renal pathologies, the use of BOLD imaging in glomerular diseases, including primary and secondary nephrotic and nephritic syndromes, is relatively unexplored. Early BOLD studies on primary nephrotic syndrome, nephrotic syndrome secondary to diabetes mellitus, and nephritic syndrome secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus have shown promising results to support its future clinical utility. In this review, we outline the advancements made in understanding the use of BOLD MRI for the assessment, diagnosis, and screening of these pathologies.

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