Detection and quantification of renal fibrosis by computerized tomography

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 2; p. e0228626
• Main Authors: Cohen, Eric P, Olson, John D, Tooze, Janet A, Bourland, J Daniel, Dugan, Greg O, Cline, J Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 13-02-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal welfare; Animals; Area Under Curve; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Body Size; Calibration; Collagen; Computed tomography; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; Drug dosages; Female; Fibrosis; Fibrosis - diagnostic imaging; Kidney - diagnostic imaging; Kidney - pathology; Kidneys; Laboratory animals; Macaca mulatta; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Models, Animal; Phantoms, Imaging; Primates; Renal cortex; Research and Analysis Methods; ROC Curve; Scanners; Sensitivity and Specificity; Studies; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Ultrasonic imaging; North Carolina; United States > US; Maryland; Baltimore Maryland
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228626

Reliable biomarkers for renal fibrosis are needed for clinical care and for research. Existing non-invasive biomarkers are imprecise, which has limited their utility.
We developed a method to quantify fibrosis by subject size-adjusted CT Hounsfield units. This was accomplished using CT measurements of renal cortex in previously irradiated non-human primates.
Renal cortex mean CT Hounsfield units that were adjusted for body size had a very good direct correlation with renal parenchymal fibrosis, with an area under the curve of 0.93.
This metric is a promising and simple non-invasive biomarker for renal fibrosis.