The role of static magnetic resonance urography in the evaluation of obstructive uropathy

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of static magnetic resonance urography (MRU) in hydronephrosis and to compare parameters of hydronephrosis in MRU with intravenous urography (IVU).

Sixty-nine patients were included in this study of which 55 patients with a total of 63 hydronephrotic units underwent both IVU and MRU. MRU was performed on a 1.5 T scanner using heavily T2-weighted sequences. The level, grade, and cause of obstruction on each modality were interpreted by 2 radiologists. These were compared with the final diagnosis based on other appropriate modalities including imaging, intraoperative and histopathologic diagnosis.

The sensitivity and specificity MRU in detecting hydronephrosis were 95% and 100%, respectively. In determining the level of obstruction, the strength of agreement between IVU and MRU using kappa statistics was κ = 0.66, which corresponds to a good level of agreement. The Spearman correlation coefficient for the grade of hydronephrosis on MRU and IVU was 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.86-0.95), with a P value of < .0001. The correct diagnosis was made in 89.2% of the cases by IVU and in 93.8% of the cases by MRU.

Along with a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting the presence, level, and grade of hydronephrosis, MRU without contrast also shows a good agreement with IVU. Static MRU can reliably replace IVU when the latter is contraindicated or technically difficult.