Functional analysis in MR urography — made simple

MR urography (MRU) has proved to be a most advantageous imaging modality of the urinary tract in children, providing one-stop comprehensive morphological and functional information, without the utilization of ionizing radiation. The functional analysis of the MRU scan still requires external post-processing using relatively complex software. This has proved to be a limiting factor in widespread routine implementation of MRU functional analysis and use of MRU functional parameters similar to nuclear medicine. We present software, developed in a pediatric radiology department, that not only enables comprehensive automated functional analysis, but is also very user-friendly, fast, easily operated by the average radiologist or MR technician and freely downloadable at www.chop-fmru.com. A copy of IDL Virtual Machine is required for the installation, which is obtained at no charge at www.ittvis.com. The analysis software, known as “CHOP-fMRU,” has the potential to help overcome the obstacles to widespread use of functional MRU in children.