Pulmonary diffusing capacity: assessment with oxygen-enhanced lung MR imaging preliminary findings

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary medicine
• Radiology
• Medical imaging

Background:

• Pulmonary diseases significantly impact lung function.
• Assessing pulmonary diffusing capacity is crucial for diagnosis and management.
• Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is an emerging technique for lung evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare signal intensity (SI) time courses in oxygen-enhanced MR lung imaging between healthy volunteers and patients with pulmonary diseases.
• To correlate observed SI differences with pulmonary diffusing capacity, specifically the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO).

Main Methods:

• Seventeen patients with pulmonary diseases and 11 healthy volunteers underwent oxygen-enhanced MR imaging.
• Imaging was performed while participants breathed room air and 100% oxygen using a turbo spin-echo sequence.
• SI slope maps were calculated, and mean SI slope and SI change values were compared with DLCO.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in SI slopes were observed between patients and volunteers (P <= .05).
• Strong linear correlations were found between DLCO and SI slopes (r(2) = 0.81 for section-selective, r(2) = 0.74 for global inversion).
• Regional differences in SI slope and SI change maps correlated with radiographic and CT findings.

Conclusions:

• The SI slope during 100% oxygen breathing enables spatially resolved assessment of pulmonary diffusion capacity.
• Oxygen-enhanced MR imaging shows potential for evaluating lung diffusion abnormalities.