Abstract #1338

Stupar V, Canet Soulas E, Alsaid H, Gaillard S, Beckmann N, Crmillieux Y

Up to date, small animal hyperpolarized 3He ventilation studies have been performed using animal tracheotomy or intubation procedures combined with assisted ventilation. These approaches are traumatic for the animal and are not suited for longitudinal studies. In this work we propose and demonstrate a non-invasive ventilation imaging protocol based on spontaneous animal breathing combined with retrospective radial CINE imaging and sliding window techniques. The complete breathing cycle was imaged by shifting the 100ms acquisition window by 5ms. This imaging protocol makes possible the performance of longitudinal studies for the investigation of pulmonary physiological or physio-pathological processes in small animals.