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Quantification of human lung structure and physiology using hyperpolarized 129 Xe
Author(s) -
Chang Yulin V.,
Quirk James D.,
Ruset Iulian C.,
Atkinson Jeffrey J.,
Hersman F. William,
Woods Jason C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.24992
Subject(s) - xenon , hematocrit , isotopes of xenon , lung , chemistry , in vivo , parenchyma , nuclear magnetic resonance , human lung , nuclear medicine , medicine , pathology , biology , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , organic chemistry
Purpose To present in vivo, human validation of a previously proposed method to measure key pulmonary parameters related to lung microstructure and physiology. Some parameters, such as blood–air barrier thickness, cannot be measured readily by any other noninvasive modality. Methods Healthy volunteers (n = 12) were studied in 1.5T and 3T whole body human scanners using hyperpolarized xenon. Xenon uptake by lung parenchyma and blood was measured using a chemical shift saturation recovery sequence. Both dissolved‐xenon peaks at 197 ppm and 217–218 ppm were fitted against a model of xenon exchange (MOXE) as functions of exchange time. Parameters related to lung function and structure can be obtained by fitting to this model. Results The following results were obtained from xenon uptake (averaged over all healthy volunteers): surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio = 210 ± 50 cm −1 ; total septal wall thickness = 9.2 ± 6.5 μm; blood‐air barrier thickness = 1.0 ± 0.3 μm; hematocrit = 27 ± 4%; pulmonary capillary blood transit time = 1.3 ± 0.3 s, in good agreement with literature values from invasive experiments. More detailed fitting results are listed in the text. Conclusion The initial in vivo human results demonstrate that our proposed methods can be used to noninvasively determine lung physiology by simultaneous quantification of a few important pulmonary parameters. This method is highly promising to become a versatile screening method for lung diseases. Magn Reson Med 71:339–344, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.