Measuring salt levels in kidneys with sodium MRI in kidney disease
Uses sodium MRI to measure salt in kidneys of adults with kidney disease.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Kidney Sodium Functional Imaging
Key facts
- Where
- London, CanadaSee the site
AI summary: who the study is looking for
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with different levels of kidney disease, people on dialysis, and healthy controls. They have a special MRI scan that measures salt in the kidneys.
- Age
- 18 years or older
- Sex
- All sexes can join
- Disease stage
- Chronic kidney disease stage 1-5 (estimated GFR below 90 mL/min/1.73m²), or on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis for more than 3 months. Healthy controls have no kidney disease, heart failure, liver cirrhosis or peripheral edema.
- Earlier treatment
- People on dialysis must have been on it for more than 3 months.
- Biomarker or test result
- Estimated GFR below 90 mL/min/1.73m² for chronic kidney disease stage 1-5.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy
- Cannot have an MRI scan
- Cannot tolerate MRI because of body size or claustrophobia
- Implanted device or metal in the body that cannot be removed, such as a pacemaker or aneurysm clips
Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
Where in Canada
- Victoria Hospital, London Health Sciences CentreLondon, CanadaContact: Christopher W McIntyre, MDTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorTrial details
- Who runs it
- London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's
- Trial code
- NCT05014178
- Record updated
- 12 February 2025
- Original description
The corticomedullary gradient is largely responsible for developing the gradients that are needed to concentrate urine (more solutes and less water). The ability of the kidneys to produce concentrated urine is a major determinant of the ability to survive the warm weather. When temperatures are high, we lose water through sweat, and so the kidneys retain water to maintain fluidity in the blood. The maintenance of a sodium (salt) gradient is required for urine concentration because increased medullary sodium concentration increases the reabsorption of water into the kidney, to be redistributed in the blood. The purpose of this study is to know if the corticomedullary gradient is altered in patients across a wide spectrum of kidney disease using sodium Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a machine that takes pictures and measures the salt content in the kidneys. 23Na kidney MRI, will provide functional MR of the kidney as a non-invasive tool to describe medullary function to improve management of chronic and kidney disease.Read full original descriptionShow less
Kidney Sodium Functional Imaging: Evaluation of Kidney Medullary Sodium Content Using 23Na MRI in Kidney Disease
The corticomedullary gradient is largely responsible for developing the gradients that are needed to concentrate urine (more solutes and less water). The ability of the kidneys to produce concentrated urine is a major determinant of the ability to survive the warm weather. When temperatures are high, we lose water through sweat, and so the kidneys retain water to maintain fluidity in the blood. The maintenance of a sodium (salt) gradient is required for urine concentration because increased medullary sodium concentration increases the reabsorption of water into the kidney, to be redistributed in the blood. The purpose of this study is to know if the corticomedullary gradient is altered in patients across a wide spectrum of kidney disease using sodium Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a machine that takes pictures and measures the salt content in the kidneys. 23Na kidney MRI, will provide functional MR of the kidney as a non-invasive tool to describe medullary function to improve management of chronic and kidney disease.
Inclusion: Age ≥ 18 years; For healthy controls: lack of kidney disease, heart failure, liver cirrhosis and peripheral edema; For CKD stage 1-5: Estimated GFR < 90 mL/min/1.73m²; For patients on maintenance hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis: more than 3 months duration of therapy.
Exclusion: Contraindication to MRI; Inability to tolerate MRI due to patient size and/or known history of claustrophobia; Mechanically implanted, electrically, or magnetically activated device or any metal in their body which cannot be removed, including but not limited to pacemakers, neurostimulators, biostimulators, implanted insulin pumps, aneurysm clips, bioprosthesis, artificial limb, metallic fragment or foreign body, tattoos, shunt, surgical staples (including clips or metallic sutures and/or ear implants.); Pregnant, breastfeeding or intending pregnancy.