Outcome metrics from diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) were evaluated for reproducibility and clinical correlation in a cohort of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). It was hypothesized that fibrotic lung tissue in IPF undergoes changes that increase the rate of intra-acinar Brownian diffusion.
Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mean, median and histogram metrics are highly reproducible and correlate both quantitatively with regional fibrosis on CT and qualitatively with carbon monoxide transfer coefficient (KCO) from pulmonary function tests. DW-MRI imaging metrics may provide novel insights into microstructural disease severity in IPF and may prove to be a useful non-ionising imaging biomarker of disease.
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