Arterial Spin Labeling May Provide Imaging Alternative For Kidney Disease Patients.

MedPage Today  (12/14, Kaiser) reports that "arterial spin labeling," which is "a cardiac MR imaging technique that doesn't use gadolinium contrast," showed "promise in identifying myocardial ischemia, and eventually may provide a useful imaging alternative, especially for patients with kidney disease," according to a study  in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging. Researchers found that in "16 patients with normal contrast-enhanced scans, the contrast-free technique found significant increases in myocardial blood flow between rest and adenosine stress imaging" and in "13 patients with ischemic myocardial segments, the contrast-free technique correlated well with contrast-enhanced imaging, showing an average myocardial perfusion reserve of 1.44 mL/g/min." An accompanying editorial "expressed optimism that the technique would develop as needed."