Samuel Patz1, James P. Butler1,2
1Radiology, Brigham & Women's
Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; 2Environmental Health,
Harvard School of Publich Health, Boston, MA, United States
Fourier Decomposition proton MRI for the lung is a promising method that measures proton density changes synchronous with ventilation and heart rate, producing images related to ventilation and perfusion. There is, however, an additional degree of freedom insofar as blood and tissue volume change independently during ventilation; this has not been considered. Here we analyze the effect of a change in both regional gas volume as well as regional blood volume from a ventilation-only maneuver. We also describe a method to separate the two effects and show this can be used to increase the diagnostic utility of the method.
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