Physiological confounders of renal blood flow measurement.

Objectives: Renal blood flow (RBF) is controlled by a number of physiological factors that can contribute to the variability of its measurement. The purpose of this review is to assess the changes in RBF in response to a wide range of physiological confounders and derive practical recommendations on patient preparation and interpretation of RBF measurements with MRI.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted to include articles reporting on physiological variations of renal perfusion, blood and/or plasma flow in healthy humans.

Bias and Precision in Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Estimates of Renal Blood Flow: Assessment by Triangulation.

Background: Renal blood flow (RBF) can be measured with dynamic contrast enhanced-MRI (DCE-MRI) and arterial spin labeling (ASL). Unfortunately, individual estimates from both methods vary and reference-standard methods are not available. A potential solution is to include a third, arbitrating MRI method in the comparison.