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Updated: Mar 17, 2026
Author Spotlight: Advancing Lung Disease Research with Free-Breathing Hyperpolarized Xenon-129 MRI
Published on: November 10, 2023
Detection of the mild emphysema by quantification of lung respiratory airways with hyperpolarized xenon diffusion MRI
Weiwei Ruan1, Jianping Zhong1, Ke Wang2
1Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, P.R. China.
Purpose:
To demonstrate the feasibility to quantify the lung respiratory airway in vivo with hyperpolarized xenon diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is able to detect mild emphysema in the rat model.
Materials And Methods:
The lung respiratory airways were quantified in vivo using hyperpolarized xenon diffusion MRI (7T) with eight b values (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 s/cm2 ) in five control rats and five mild emphysematous rats, which were induced by elastase. The morphological results from histology were acquired and used for comparison.
Results:
The parameters DL (longitudinal diffusion coefficient), r (internal radius), h (alveolar sleeve depth), Lm (mean linear intercept), and S/V (surface area to lung volume ratio) derived from the hyperpolarized xenon diffusion MRI in the emphysematous group showed significant differences from those in the control group (P < 0.05). Additionally, these parameters correlated well with the Lm obtained by the traditional histological sections (Pearson's correlation coefficients >0.8).
Conclusion:
The lung respiratory airways can be quantified by hyperpolarized xenon diffusion MRI, showing the potential for mild emphysema diagnosis. Also, the study suggested that the hyperpolarized xenon DL is more sensitive than DT (transverse diffusion coefficient) to detect mild emphysema.
Level Of Evidence:
1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:879-888.
