Technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal MRI: a consensus project of the Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA

Purpose The potential of renal MRI biomarkers has been increasingly recognised, but clinical translation requires more standardisation. The PARENCHIMA consensus project aims to develop and apply a process for generating technical recommendations on renal MRI. Methods A task force was formed in July 2018 focused on fve methods. A draft process for attaining consensus was distributed publicly for consultation and fnalised at an open meeting (Prague, October 2018). Four expert panels completed surveys between October 2018 and March 2019, discussed results and refned the surveys at a face-to-face meeting (Aarhus, March 2019) and completed a second round (May 2019). Results A seven-stage process was defned: (1) formation of expert panels; (2) defnition of the context of use; (3) literature review; (4) collection and comparison of MRI protocols; (5) consensus generation by an approximate Delphi method; (6) reporting of results in vendor-neutral and vendor-specifc terms; (7) ongoing review and updating. Application of the process resulted in 166 consensus statements. Conclusion The process generated meaningful technical recommendations across very diferent MRI methods, while allowing for improvement and refnement as open issues are resolved. The results are likely to be widely supported by the renal MRI community and thereby promote more harmonisation

Technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal MRI: a consensus project of the Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA

Purpose The potential of renal MRI biomarkers has been increasingly recognised, but clinical translation requires more standardisation. The PARENCHIMA consensus project aims to develop and apply a process for generating technical recommendations on renal MRI. Methods A task force was formed in July 2018 focused on fve methods. A draft process for attaining consensus was distributed publicly for consultation and fnalised at an open meeting (Prague, October 2018). Four expert panels completed surveys between October 2018 and March 2019, discussed results and refned the surveys at a face-to-face meeting (Aarhus, March 2019) and completed a second round (May 2019). Results A seven-stage process was defned: (1) formation of expert panels; (2) defnition of the context of use; (3) literature review; (4) collection and comparison of MRI protocols; (5) consensus generation by an approximate Delphi method; (6) reporting of results in vendor-neutral and vendor-specifc terms; (7) ongoing review and updating. Application of the process resulted in 166 consensus statements. Conclusion The process generated meaningful technical recommendations across very diferent MRI methods, while allowing for improvement and refnement as open issues are resolved. The results are likely to be widely supported by the renal MRI community and thereby promote more harmonisation

Consensus‑based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal ASL MRI

Objectives This study aimed at developing technical recommendations for the acquisition, processing and analysis of renal ASL data in the human kidney at 1.5 T and 3 T feld strengths that can promote standardization of renal perfusion measurements and facilitate the comparability of results across scanners and in multi-centre clinical studies. Methods An international panel of 23 renal ASL experts followed a modifed Delphi process, including on-line surveys and two in-person meetings, to formulate a series of consensus statements regarding patient preparation, hardware, acquisition protocol, analysis steps and data reporting. Results Fifty-nine statements achieved consensus, while agreement could not be reached on two statements related to patient preparation. As a default protocol, the panel recommends pseudo-continuous (PCASL) or fow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) labelling with a single-slice spin-echo EPI readout with background suppression and a simple but robust quantifcation model. Discussion This approach is considered robust and reproducible and can provide renal perfusion images of adequate quality and SNR for most applications. If extended kidney coverage is desirable, a 2D multislice readout is recommended. These recommendations are based on current available evidence and expert opinion. Nonetheless they are expected to be updated as more data become available, since the renal ASL literature is rapidly expanding