Autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a common genetic disorder characterized by the formation of fluid-filled renal cysts that can eventually lead to renal failure. ADPKD is one of the most common human monogenetic diseases and affects over 600,000 patients in the USA [1-4]. The disease is characterized by excessive proliferation of renal tubular epithelial cells which form fluid-filled cysts that eventually replace most of the normal kidney tissue. Consequently, ADPKD leads to severe enlargement of the kidneys. No clinical treatment is currently available to delay the onset of renal cystogenesis or slow its progression.
In vivo imaging techniques provide a noninvasive tool for monitoring the progression and/or regression of diseases. Serial MRI studies can provide high-resolution anatomic structure of the kidneys and thus could be a useful tool for the assessment of various therapies. In this study, we use high-resolution MRI to measure the kidney volumes of transgenic mice with polycystic kidney disease. W e have developed image segmentation, registration and visualization methods for this new application that help to quantify and characterize the impact of therapies.
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Kidney MR images from the wild-type (left) and transgenic (right) mice. The transgenic mouse had the polycystic kidney disease. |
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Serial MR images of mouse kidneys. Images are from the transgenic Mouse 4 as acquired in Week 0 (left), Week 2 (middle) and Week 4 (right). |
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