title: Oxygen-enhanced MRI for patients with connective tissue diseases: comparison with thin-section CT of capability for pulmonary functional and disease severity assessment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To prospectively and directly compare oxygen-enhanced (O2-enhanced) MRI with thin-section CT for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessment in connective tissue disease (CTD) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thin-section CT, O2-enhanced MRI, pulmonary function test and serum KL-6 were administered to 36 CTD patients with ILD (23 men, 13 women; mean age: 63.9 years) and nine CTD patients without ILD (six men, and three women; mean age: 62.0 years). A relative-enhancement ratio (RER) map was generated from O2-enhanced MRI and mean relative enhancement ratio (MRER) for each subject was calculated from all ROI measurements. CT-assessed disease severity was evaluated with a visual scoring system from each of the thin-section CT data. MRER and CT-assessed disease severities of CTD patients with and without ILD were then statistically compared. To assess capability for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessment in CTD patients, correlations of MRER and CT-assessed disease severity with pulmonary functional parameters and serum KL-6 in all subjects were statistically determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MRER and CT-assessed disease severity showed significant differences between CTD patients with (MRER: 0.15 ± 0.08, CT-assessed disease severity: 13.0 ± 7.4%) and without ILD (MRER: 0.25 ± 0.06, p=0.0011; CT-assessed disease severity: 1.6 ± 1.6%, p<0.0001). MRER and CT-assessed disease severity correlated significantly with pulmonary functional parameters and serum KL-6 in all subjects (0.61 ≤ r ≤ 0.79, p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  O2-enhanced MRI was found to be as useful as thin-section CT for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessment of CTD patients with ILD.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; Division of Functional and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. Electronic address: yosirad@kobe-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.affiliation: Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; Division of Functional and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mizuho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisanobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.affiliation: Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; Division of Functional and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.affiliation: Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; Division of Functional and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Sumiaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan; Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nakagami-Gun, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Maho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsubakimoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: CT; Connective tissue disease; Functional imaging; Lung; MRI