Application value of oral ferric ammonium citrate solution in MR urography

    ZHOU Dongª²Hai, HE Ning, MO Jianª²Jie, WEI Chunª²Ping, LI Gang

    1Department of Radiology, Second Hospital, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China, 2Health School of Lanzhou City, Lanzhou 730030, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To study the value of oral ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) solution as a negative gastrointestinal contrast agent in MR urography (MRU). METHODS: Eightyª²five subjects were divided into 2 groups: nonª²FAC group (43 cases) who were given routine MRU, and FAC group (42 cases) who had MRU after oral administration of FAC solution containing 900 mg FAC. New MRU images were obtained from the original images by maximum intensity projection technique. RESULTS: In nonª²FAC group, 4 of the images obtained were classified as grade 1, 6 as grade 2, 27 as grade 3 and 6 as grade 4, while in FAC group, 19 of the images obtained were classified as grade 1, 14 as grade 2, 6 as grade 3 and 3 as grade 4. Significant difference (u=-4.669, P<0.0005) was found by nonparametric rank test of 2 independent samples. CONCLUSION: MRU images obtained after oral administration of FAC solution show the suppression of water signal from the gastrointestinal tract and more clear images of urinary tract. ......