Acute Rejection vs. Acute Tubular Necrosis (ATN)

In this work, non-invasive imaging techniques are being applied to study kidney allograft dysfunction in the early post-transplantation period. Functional MRI will be used to assess transplanted kidneys at the time of graft dysfunction. Non-contrast techniques will be examined as potential tools to distinguish between acute tubular injury and acute rejection in the graft. After undergoing clinically-indicated biopsy, patients will be brought to the MRI suite for a one-hour scanning session (within 24hrs of the biopsy). Patients will then return for 2 more scans, at one week post-biopsy and three months post-biopsy. Images will be evaluated in conjunction with the biopsy histology to see if the results correlate. If this research is successful, the results will lead to new understanding of normal kidney function and reveal aspects of the pathophysiologic changes contributing to allograft dysfunction in the early post-transplantation period.