Abstract
MR urography (MRU) has proved to be a most advantageous imaging modality of the urinary tract in children, providing one-stop comprehensive morphological and functional information, without the utilization of ionizing radiation. The functional analysis of the MRU scan still requires external post-processing using relatively complex software. This has proved to be a limiting factor in widespread routine implementation of MRU functional analysis and use of MRU functional parameters similar to nuclear medicine. We present software, developed in a pediatric radiology department, that not only enables comprehensive automated functional analysis, but is also very user-friendly, fast, easily operated by the average radiologist or MR technician and freely downloadable at www.chop-fmru.com. A copy of IDL Virtual Machine is required for the installation, which is obtained at no charge at www.ittvis.com. The analysis software, known as “CHOP-fMRU,” has the potential to help overcome the obstacles to widespread use of functional MRU in children.
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Acknowledgements
Introducing a new imaging modality in a department and develo** software for functional analysis requires the support and input of many people. We would like to express our deepest thanks to the following persons in the Department of Radiology: C. Harris, BSc, for continued professional support in optimizing the MRU procedure, and Drs. R. Bellah, M. Epelman, A. Johnson and T. Roberts for their constructive feedback. Our thanks also goes to Dr. D. Jaramillo for his unrelenting support.
The MR imaging innovation would not have been possible without the interest of and close collaboration with our clinical partners from the Division of Urology at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, particularly with Dr. P. Casale. Many thanks to all our pediatric urologists for their inquisitiveness and helpful criticism and suggestions, which facilitated sha** and improving the quality of the CHOP-fMRU software during the last 2 years.
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Khrichenko, D., Darge, K. Functional analysis in MR urography — made simple. Pediatr Radiol 40, 182–199 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-009-1458-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-009-1458-4