Pulmonary ventilation and perfusion scanning using hyperpolarized helium-3 MRI and arterial spin tagging in healthy normal subjects and in pulmonary embolism and orthotopic lung transplant patients.
Conventional nuclear ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scanning is limited in spatial resolution and requires exposure to radioactivity. The acquisition of pulmonary V/Q images using MRI overcomes these difficulties. When inhaled, hyperpolarized helium-3 ((3)He) permits MRI of gas distribution. Magnetic labeling of blood (arterial spin-tagging (AST)) provides images of pulmonary perfusion. Three normal subjects, two patients who had undergone single lung transplantation for emphysema, and one subject with pulmonary embolism (PE), were imaged. (3)He distribution and blood perfusion appeared uniform in the normal subjects and throughout the lung allografts. Gas distribution and perfusion in the emphysematous lungs were non-uniform and paralleled radiographic abnormalities. AST imaging alone revealed a lower-lobe wedge-shaped perfusion defect in the patient with PE that corresponded to computed tomography (CT) imaging. Hyperpolarized (3)He gas is demonstrated to provide ventilation images of the lung. Blood perfusion information may be obtained during the same examination using the AST technique. The sequential application of these imaging methods provides a novel tool for studying V/Q relationships.
Lipson
David A
DA
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. dlipson@mail.med.upenn.edu
Roberts
David A
DA
Hansen-Flaschen
John
J
Gentile
Thomas R
TR
Jones
Gordon
G
Thompson
Alan
A
Dimitrov
Ivan E
IE
Palevsky
Harold I
HI
Leigh
John S
JS
Schnall
Mitchell
M
Rizi
Rahim R
RR
D006371:Helium; D006801:Humans; D007554:Isotopes; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D014692:Ventilation-Perfusion Ratio
D007554:Isotopes; D006371:Helium