Use of MRI assessment in patients with renal disease.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Magnetic resonance imaging in Renal disease: comparison of patients with and without kidney disease.
IRAS ID
203179
Contact name
James Burton
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patients suffering from kidney disease can develop long-term kidney damage that results in kidney failure and the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant. Currently, to diagnose the cause of kidney disease, a piece of kidney tissue has to be taken using a needle, in a procedure known as a “Renal biopsy”. Though this procedure is relatively safe, not all patients can have the procedure, and the sample of kidney tissue examined is small and sometimes an accurate diagnosis is hard to make. Even when a specific cause has been identified on a renal biopsy, it can still be difficult to predict how quickly the disease will progress or how likely the patient is to need dialysis or a transplant in the future. Therefore any additional tools that may aid diagnose or predict outcomes in patients with kidney disease will help doctors and patients plan how to manage the condition in a more personalised and accurate manner.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers a potential way to scan the kidneys and provide diagnostic information without exposing patients to radiation or an invasive procedure. New developments in MRI technology have already been used in patients with heart and liver disease with great success, giving doctors new diagnostic and prognostic information. We now wish to explore how to use this technology in patients with kidney disease. We propose to carry out MRI scans on up to 20 patients with known kidney disease diagnosed through a renal biopsy and compare the results to 10 controls without kidney disease. We think the scans of the 20 patients with known kidney disease will look different from the scans of the 10 people without kidney disease. If we can confirm this finding, the results will be investigated further in larger studies. We will also ask some participants to have a second MRI scan, in order to check how repeatable the new technique is in looking at kidneys
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0337
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion