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Abstract #1191

Proton Density and R2* Estimation of Neonatal Lung Parenchyma During Free Breathing with UTE MRI

Andrew Hahn1, Nara Higano2,3, Jean Tkach4, Laura Walkup2, Robert Thomen2, Xuefeng Cao2,5, Stephanie Merhar6, Jason Woods2,3, and Sean Fain1

1Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States, 2Center for Pulmonary Imaging Research, Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States, 3Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 4Imaging Research Center, Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 5Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States, 6Perinatal Institute, Division of Neonatology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States

The majority of patients in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have pulmonary morbidities, yet little is known about the underlying parenchymal structure. We quantify parenchymal proton density and R2* in the lungs of quiet breathing, non-sedated neonates in the NICU using a multi-echo 3D radial UTE MRI. Results indicate that lung proton density decreases as expected with lung inflation, while R2* increases. A positive relationship between gravitational dependence and tissue density is also apparent, while R2* decreases in more gravitationally dependent regions. Overall, our findings support a negative relationship between tissue density and R2* in the neonatal lung.

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