Yoshiharu Ohno1,
2, Shinichiro Seki3, Mizuho Nishio1, 2,
Hisanobu Koyama3, Takeshi Yoshikawa1, 2,
Sumiaki Matsumoto1, 2, Nobukazu Aoyama4,
Katsusuke Kyotani4, Makoto Obara5, Marc van Cauteren5,
Masaya Takahashi6, Hideaki Kawamitsu4, Satoru Takahashi4,
Kazuro Sugimura3
1Advanced
Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of
Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; 2Division of Functional and
Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University
Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; 3Division of
Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of
Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; 4Center forRadiology and Radiation
Oncology, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; 5Philips
Healthcare, Tokyo, Japan; 6Advanced Imaging Research Center,
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
In 2010, pulmonary MR imaging using ultra-short echo times (UTE-MRI) was introduced as a new tool for quantitative measurement of T2* values in the lung. However, one of the technical problems associated with using this technique is thought to be determination of ultra-short TEs (UTEs) appropriate for this purpose. We hypothesized a shorter UTE interval is better for such assessment and classification in smokers. The purpose of this study was thus to assess the influence of UTE intervals, compared with that of quantitatively assessed thin-section CT, on pulmonary UTE-MRI for pulmonary functional loss assessment and clinical stage classification of smokers.
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