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Author Spotlight: Standardization and Best Practices for Advancing Lung Imaging Using 129Xe MRI
Published on: November 21, 2023
Magnetic resonance imaging in children: common problems and possible solutions for lung and airways imaging
Pierluigi Ciet1,2, Harm A W M Tiddens1,2, Piotr A Wielopolski1
1Department of Radiology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
Pediatric chest MRI is difficult due to motion and long scan times. This review explores advanced MRI techniques to overcome these challenges, enabling radiation-free lung imaging for children.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Pediatric Imaging
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Pediatric chest MRI faces challenges including motion artifacts, low signal in normal lung tissue, and difficulties with patient cooperation during prolonged scans.
- These limitations have historically favored computed tomography (CT) for pediatric chest imaging, despite CT's use of ionizing radiation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review emerging Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) acquisition techniques for pediatric chest imaging.
- To identify current challenges and propose solutions for improving the feasibility and quality of pediatric chest MRI.
Main Methods:
- Discussion of advanced MRI sequences designed to reduce scan times and minimize motion artifacts.
- Exploration of strategies to enhance signal in lung tissues and improve patient preparation for pediatric MRI.
Main Results:
- New MRI techniques show promise in overcoming limitations of speed and motion in pediatric lung imaging.
- These advancements aim to make MRI a more viable alternative to CT, particularly for follow-up studies.
Conclusions:
- Despite inherent challenges, MRI offers significant advantages over CT, notably the absence of ionizing radiation.
- Further development and clinical translation of these MRI techniques are crucial for advancing pediatric chest imaging and enabling frequent follow-up assessments.
Abstract:
Pediatric chest MRI is challenging. High-resolution scans of the lungs and airways are compromised by long imaging times, low lung proton density and motion. Low signal is a problem of normal lung. Lung abnormalities commonly cause increased signal intenstities. Among the most important factors for a successful MRI is patient cooperation, so the long acquisition times make patient preparation crucial. Children usually have problems with long breath-holds and with the concept of quiet breathing. Young children are even more challenging because of higher cardiac and respiratory rates giving motion blurring. For these reasons, CT has often been preferred over MRI for chest pediatric imaging. Despite its drawbacks, MRI also has advantages over CT, which justifies its further development and clinical use. The most important advantage is the absence of ionizing radiation, which allows frequent scanning for short- and long-term follow-up studies of chronic diseases. Moreover, MRI allows assessment of functional aspects of the chest, such as lung perfusion and ventilation, or airways and diaphragm mechanics. In this review, we describe the most common MRI acquisition techniques on the verge of clinical translation, their problems and the possible solutions to make chest MRI feasible in children.
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