Carolina Fernandes1,
Kai Ruppert2, Talissa A. Altes2, John P. Mugler, III2,
Iulian C. Ruset3, Wilson Miller2, F. William Hersman3,
Jaime F. Mata2
1Institute
of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, FCUL, Lisbon, Portugal; 2Radiology
and Medical Imaging, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United
States; 3Xemed LLC, Durham, NH, United States
The aim of this work was to assess lung physiology in subjects with different degrees of smoke exposure, and comparing it with the results obtained from healthy subjects. We used a 3D Single Breath-hold CSI technique for generating maps that reflect the amount of xenon-129 gas in the alveoli and dissolved in the lung tissue and red blood cells. The results demonstrated that smoke exposed subjects presented a higher ratio of gas dissolved in the tissue to that dissolved in the red blood cells. This technique proved to be able to provide detailed regional information, with potential to detect small changes in the progression of various pulmonary diseases.
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