Volumetry of ventilated airspaces by 3He MRI: preliminary results.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a validated post-processing routine for volumetry of the ventilated airspaces by 3He MRI.


METHODS
3Helium MRI and pulmonary function tests were performed in seven healthy volunteers. After segmentation of ventilated airspaces, their volumes were calculated. Functional residual capacity (FRC) was used as a reference. For comparison of absolute volumes, correction factors were evaluated.


RESULTS
Mean lung volume (+/- standard deviation) calculated from 3He MRI was 4,082 +/- 908 mL and mean FRC was 3,696 +/- 1166 mL, with a mean difference of 386 mL (r = 0.88). After correction for the relative pulmonary air content (factor 0.82), posture (0.72), and the individual tidal volume, 3He MRI volume was 3,348 +/- 744 mL and mean FRC was 3,422 +/- 817 mL, with the mean difference down to -74 mL (r = 0.9). Comparison on an individual basis confirmed an improvement in the estimation of absolute lung volume.


CONCLUSIONS
Volumetry of ventilated lung from 3He MRI shows high correlation and good agreement with the results of pulmonary function tests.
Department of Radiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. kauczor@radiologie.klinik.uni-mainz.de
H U
HU
Kauczor
K
K
Markstaller
M
M
Puderbach
J
J
Lill
B
B
Eberle
G
G
Hanisch
T
T
Grossmann
C P
CP
Heussel
W
W
Schreiber
M
M
Thelen
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006371:Helium; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007554:Isotopes; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male
D007554:Isotopes; D006371:Helium