The Consortium for Radiologic Imaging Studies of Polycystic Kidney Disease (CRISP) is a 10-year prospective cohort study that started in March 1999 and was created to develop innovative imaging techniques and analyses using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to reliably and accurately measure cyst and renal volume in ADPKD individuals early in the course of their disease. The purpose of this study was to determine if (1) renal or cyst volume can be measured reliably and accurately; (2) change in renal or cyst volume can be detected over a relatively short period of time; and (3) an increase in cyst or renal volume is associated with loss of renal function in ADPKD. The primary overall goal of CRISP was to develop imaging methods to follow disease progression and to evaluate treatments for ADPKD.


Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most commonly inherited genetic renal disease and cause of kidney failure in adults and children. It is characterized by the growth of numerous cysts in the kidneys and often culminates in end-stage renal disease. CRISP was created to develop methods that reliably measure the progression of cyst and renal growth before loss of kidney function among individuals with ADPKD. A total of 230 ADPKD  patients between  15 and 46 years old and with a creatinine clearance of >70 ml/min were recruited for CRISP I. Enrolled subjects were evaluated at baseline (magnetic resonance imaging, clinical  evaluation) and for 3 years thereafter. Two years after the completion of CRISP I, participants were contacted again to schedule for a baseline evaluation for CRISP II (year 6). 203 participants were enrolled for CRISP II.  Complete methods can be found in Bae et al. (2006)