Magnetic resonance elastography can monitor changes in medullary stiffness in response to treatment in the swine ischemic kidney.

Objective: Low-energy shockwave (SW) therapy attenuates damage in the stenotic kidney (STK) caused by atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS). We hypothesized that magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) would detect attenuation of fibrosis following SW in unilateral ARAS kidneys.

Materials And Methods: Domestic pigs were randomized to control, unilateral ARAS, and ARAS treated with 6 sessions of SW over 3 consecutive weeks (n = 7 each) starting after 3 weeks of ARAS or sham.