Pulmonary perfusion MRI using interleaved variable density sampling and HighlY constrained cartesian reconstruction (HYCR).
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the feasibility of performing single breathhold, noncardiac gated, ultrafast, high spatial-temporal resolution whole chest MR pulmonary perfusion imaging in humans.


METHODS
Eight subjects (five male, three female) were scanned with the proposed method on a 3 Tesla clinical scanner using a 32-channel phased-array coil. Seven (88%) were healthy volunteers, and one was a patient volunteer with sarcoidosis. The peak lung enhancement phase for each subject was scored for gravitational effect, peak parenchymal enhancement and severity of artifacts by three cardiothoracic radiologists independently.


RESULTS
All studies were successfully performed by MR technologists without any additional training. Mean parenchymal signal was very good, measuring 0.78 ± 0.13 (continuous scale, 0 = "none" → 1 = "excellent"). Mean level of motion artifacts was low, measuring 0.13 ± 0.08 (continuous scale, 0 = "none" → 1 = "severe").


CONCLUSIONS
It is feasible to perform single breathhold, noncardiac gated, ultrafast, high spatial-temporal resolution whole chest MR pulmonary perfusion imaging in humans.
Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Madison, WI 53705, USA. kang.wang@ge.com
Kang
K
Wang
Mark L
ML
Schiebler
Christopher J
CJ
Francois
A Munoz
AM
Del Rio
Ma Daniela
MD
Cornejo
Laura C
LC
Bell
Frank R
FR
Korosec
Jean H
JH
Brittain
James H
JH
Holmes
Scott K
SK
Nagle
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D062485:Breath Holding; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
DCE MRI; HYCR; HYPR; IVD; constrained reconstruction; pulmonary perfusion