Suryanarayanan Sivaram Kaushik1,
1Center for In-Vivo Microscopy, Duke
University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; 2Radiology,
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; 3Pulmonary
and Critical Care Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC,
United States; 4GE Healthcare, Amersham, United Kingdom
Apparent
diffusion coefficient (ADC) MRI using hyperpolarized 3He has been established
as a radiation free alternative to Computerized Tomography in evaluating
pulmonary microstructure, but its use is limited in biomedical research
applications due to its high cost and low availability. Recently, the success
of HP 129Xe in showing sensitivity to alveolar microstructure changes in
animals suggests that 129Xe, which is cheaper and more readily available, is
also suitable for ADC measurements. Here, we discuss 129Xe ADC imaging
results from healthy volunteers and COPD patients with early stage emphysema
and show that 129Xe ADC imaging can successfully discriminate the two groups.
Keywords