Abstract #1461

Estimation of Global Gravity-Induced Gradients and Oxygen Uptake from Hyperpolarized 3He pAO2 Imaging

Hoora Shaghaghi¹, Hooman Hamedani¹, Stephen J. Kadlececk¹, Kiarash Emami¹, Yi Xin¹, Puttisarn Mongkolwisetwara¹, Masaru Ishii², Milton Rossman³, Rahim Rizi¹

¹Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; ²Otolarynology, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, United States; ³Pulmonary, allergy and Critical Care Division, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Gravitational effects were detected in the dependent regions of lung by hyperpolarized 3He pAO2-imaging. In this abstract, a method is presented to estimate a global measure of oxygen uptake and gravitational gradients from two separate 3He pAO2-acquisitions for 22 human subjects. The evaluated oxygen uptakes were in the range of 1-2.5 Torr/s, while smoker and COPD subjects showed lower values. The gravitational gradients averaged to 1 Torr/cm but were less evident for nonsmokers and COPD subjects. The resulted global gradients showed significant correlations with acquired pulmonary function tests for all subjects.