Michael J. Stephen1, Kiarash Emami2,
John M. Woodburn2, Elaine Chia2, Stephen J. Kadlecek2,
Jianliang Zhu3, Masaru Ishii4,
1Department of Pulmonary and Critical
Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 2Department
of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 3Department
of Surgery, VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 4Department
of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
This
study demonstrates the first attempt to use hyperpolarized gas MR images of
lung ventilation and apparent diffusion (ADC) in an animal model of
interstitial lung disease. The
efficacy of hyperpolarized 3He MRI metrics in assessing idiopathic
pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was evaluated in a bleomycin rat model. Results showed that fractional ventilation
3 weeks after bleomycin administration was significantly lower than in the
control animals, and ADC measurements followed similar trends. Hyperpolarized gas MRI is a promising
diagnostic for IPF and an improvement over current diagnostics in its
regional sensitivity and benignancy.
Keywords