Project

Renal MRI standardization to
improve personalised
management of CKD patients

“More than 10% of the world’s population have chronic kidney disease”

More than 10% of the world’s population have chronic kidney disease (CKD), and its prevalence is increasing. CKD represents a global health burden with high economic cost. CKD patients exhibit progressive disease, demonstrating a failure of current therapies, and an alarming number of clinical trials have failed. Better methods are urgently needed for earlier diagnosis and improved patient stratification, targeted treatment and monitoring. Renal multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has emerged as a promising non-invasive technique for characterisation of renal physiology and pathophysiology.

However current methodological differences across studies hinder reliable comparisons. Widely accepted normative values are not available, and additional evidence for clinical validity and utility of renal MRI is required. RESPECT addresses these unmet needs with a multinational, multidisciplinary and intersectoral project that will set up a scalable standardised renal MRI infrastructure allowing multicentre clinical research.

The RESPECT project is supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (Italy), Innovation Fond Denmark (Denmark), German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany), Gobierno de Navarra (Spain), and Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (Romania), under the frame of ERA PerMed.

This is fundamental for its ultimate
transfer to clinical practice for
personalised medicine.
RESPECT aims:

To develop a standardised physiologically relevant multi-parametric renal MRI protocol for personalised CKD management.

To set up an open-access cloud-based platform for renal MRI data sharing, quality control and processing.

To provide preliminary cross-institutional evidence of renal MRI feasibility and utility in characterising and staging CKD.

To harmonise across MRI vendors and technically validate the standardised renal MRI protocol, sonalised CKD management.

To develop novel artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to automate renal MRI processing.

To develop MRI data sharing guidelines ensuring ethics and confidentiality, and assess patient, health care and ethic professionals’ perspective on data sharing and the use of AI in image data processing.

Partners

Anna Caroli
Coordinator
Anna Caroli

Title: PhD
Institution: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS (IRFMN)

Via Camozzi 3. Postal Code 24020
Ranica (BG) Italy
+39 035 4535381
anna.caroli@marionegri.it

Istituto de richerche farmacologiche Mario Negri - IRCCS
Christoffer Laustsen
Project partner 1
Christoffer Laustsen

Title: Head of Department, Associate Professor
Institution: Aarhus University (AU)

Palle Juul Jensens Boulevard 99. Postal Code 8200
Aarhus N. Denmark
+45 87456139
cl@clin.au.dk

Aarhus University
Frank Zoellner
Project Partner 2
Frank Zoellner

Title: Prof. DR
Institution: Heidelberg University (UHEI)

Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3. Postal Code 68167
Mannheim, Germany
Phone +49 621 383 5117
frank.zoellner@medma.uni-heidelberg.de

Universitat Heildelberg
María Fernández-Seara
Project partner 3
María Fernández-Seara

Title: Dr
Institution: Institution Clínica Universidad de Navarra (UNAV)

Pio XII, 36. Postal Code 31008
Pamplona. Spain
+34 948 255400
mfseara@unav.es

Clínica Universidad de Navarra
Susan Francis
Project Partner 4
Susan Francis

Title: Professor
Institution: University of Nottingham, UK (UoN)

University Park, University of Nottingham Postal Code NG2 5GW Nottingham UK
+44(0)115 8466518
susan.francis@nottingham.ac.uk

University of Nottingham
Constantin Suciu
Project partner 5
Constantin Suciu

Title: PhD
Institution: Siemens SRL

B-dul Eroilor 3A. Postal Code 500007
Brasov. Romania
+40 (268) 400-225
constantin.suciu@siemens.com

siemens

RESPECT is divided into 6 complementary and interlinked work packages (WPs):

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Renal MRI standardisation (M1-M30)

Lead: AU
Participating: UNAV, IRFMN, UoN

T2.1: Establishment of multiparametric protocol
T2.2: Protocol validation
T2.3: Technical validation in HVs and CKD patients

Deliverables:
D2.1: Harmonised multiparametric renal MRI protocol (M6, AU).
D2.2: MRI acquisition SOPs (M9, AU).
D2.3: Report on phantom validation study results (M12, AU).
D2.4: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in HVs (M30, UNAV).
D2.5: Report on repeatability and reproducibility results in CKD patients (M30, UNAV).

Milestones

M.1 Renal MRI protocol harmonised across vendorsD2.1
M.2 Central database infrastructure in placeD3.3
M.3 Phantom validation study completedD2.3
M.4 QC module developedD3.5
M.5 Project website launchedD6.2
M.6 Renal MRI processing module developedD3.7
M.7 Clinical study protocol approved and 1st patient enrolledD4.1
M.8 Consensus process initiated – 1st round survey completedD5.1
M.9 Patient survey completed at RESPECT sitesD5.2
M.10 Technical validation in HVs completedD2.4
M.11 Exploratory clinical study enrolment completedD4.3
M.12 Patient survey completed at PARENCHIMA network sitesD5.2
M.13 MRI data processing completeD2.4
M.14 AI-based MRI processing moduleD3.8
M.15 MRI data sharing guidelines published D5.3
Management Structure Chart

Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart

Pert Diagram

Pert Diagram : Project : Respect