Iain K. Ball1,
Marcus J. Couch1, 2, Tao Li1, 2,
Matthew S. Fox1, Jordan A. Lovis1, 2, Ralph
Hashoian3, Shalyn L. Littlefield1, Birubi Biman4,
Mitchell S. Albert1, 2
1Thunder
Bay Regional Research Institute, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; 2Lakehead
University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; 3Clinical MR Solutions, Brookfield,
WI, United States; 4Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre,
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
In this study, a 19F 3D UTE ADC pulse sequence was optimized for imaging human lungs with inert fluorinated gases at 3 T. A healthy male subject inhaled a 1 L mixture of 79% perfluoropropane (PFP) and 21% O2 from a Tedlar bag, and ADC-weighted images were acquired over a 33 second breath-hold. The ADC values reported in this study are similar to previously published values for the free diffusion of PFP. This preliminary study effectively demonstrates the excellent potential of 19F 3D UTE for the measurement of ADC in human lungs using inert fluorinated gases.