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Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance venography in pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease: initial experience with ferumoxytol

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Abstract

Ferumoxytol is an ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) particle that is FDA-approved for parenteral treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adults with chronic kidney disease. Because of the association between gadolinium-based contrast agents and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis in patients with severe chronic kidney disease, we sought to evaluate the diagnostic role of ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography in children with chronic kidney disease. Twenty children underwent 22 high-resolution ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography examinations at 3.0 T. High-resolution 3-D contrast-enhanced imaging was performed at a minimum of 3 time points following injection of ferumoxytol at a total dose of 4 mg/kg. Two blinded pediatric radiologists independently scored six named veins on ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography examinations according to a three-point subjective score, where a score ≥2 was considered diagnostic. Additionally, all relevant venous structures in the included field of view were analyzed for occlusive or non-occlusive thrombosis, compression and presence of collaterals. All patients underwent ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography successfully and without adverse event. The overall scores of the reviewing radiologists for all venous structures were 2.7-2.9. In all cases, the reviewers were confident basing their diagnoses on the ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography findings. In 12 of 22 examinations, findings on follow-up imaging or invasive procedures were available to correlate with the findings on ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography. There was complete concordance between the findings from follow-up imaging and invasive procedures with findings from ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography. Ferumoxytol holds promise as a powerful alternative to gadolinium-based contrast agents for reliable, high-resolution MR venography in children with chronic kidney disease.

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Correspondence to J. Paul Finn.

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This article was awarded the John Kirkpatrick Young Investigator Award at the Society for Pediatric Radiology 2014 meeting.

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Luhar, A., Khan, S., Finn, J.P. et al. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance venography in pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease: initial experience with ferumoxytol. Pediatr Radiol 46, 1332–1340 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-016-3605-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-016-3605-z

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