Ultra-short echo time (UTE) MR imaging of the lung: Comparison between normal and emphysematous lungs in mutant mice
✍ Scribed by Masaya Takahashi; Osamu Togao; Makoto Obara; Marc van Cauteren; Yoshiharu Ohno; Shigehiro Doi; Makoto Kuro-O; Craig Malloy; Connie C. Hsia; Ivan Dimitrov
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 350 KB
- Volume
- 32
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1053-1807
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the utility of ultra‐short echo time (UTE) sequence as pulmonary MRI to detect non‐uniform disruption of lung architecture that is typical of emphysema.
Materials and Methods:
MRI of the lungs was conducted with a three‐dimensional UTE sequence in transgenic mice with severe emphysema and their wild‐type littermates in a 3 Tesla clinical MR system. Measurements of the signal intensity (SI) and transverse relaxation time (T2*) of the lung parenchyma were performed with various echo times (TEs) ranging from 100 μs to 2 ms.
Results:
Much higher SI of the lung parenchyma was observed at an UTE of 100 μs compared with longer TEs. The emphysematous lungs had reduced SIs and T2* than the controls, in particular at end‐expiratory phase. The results suggested that both SI and T2* in lung parenchyma measured with the method represent fractional volume of lung tissue.
Conclusion:
The UTE imaging provided MR signal from the lung parenchyma. Moreover, the UTE sequence was sensitive to emphysematous changes and may provide a direct assessment of lung parenchyma. UTE imaging has the potential to assist detection of localized pathological destruction of lung tissue architecture in emphysema. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;32:326–333. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.