Assessing Lung Ventilation and Bronchodilator Response in Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with F MRI.

Background Pulmonary function tests are central to diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases but do not provide information on regional lung function heterogeneity. Fluorine 19 (F) MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane permits quantitative and spatially localized assessment of pulmonary ventilation properties without tracer gas hyperpolarization. Purpose To assess regional lung ventilation properties using F MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane in participants with asthma, participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and healthy participants, including quantitative evaluation of bronchodilator response in participants with respiratory disease.

Human brain Li-MRI following low-dose lithium dietary supplementation in healthy participants.

Background: Lithium is an effective mood stabiliser, but its mechanism of action is incompletely defined. Even at very low doses, lithium may have neuroprotective effects, but it is not clear if these relate to brain lithium concentration in vivo. We have developed magnetic resonance imaging (Li-MRI) methods to detect lithium in the brain following supplementation at a very low dose.

Reproducibility of F-MR ventilation imaging in healthy volunteers.

Purpose: To assess the reproducibility of percentage ventilated lung volume (%VV) measurements in healthy volunteers acquired by fluorine ( F)-MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane, implemented at two research sites.

Methods: In this prospective, ethically approved study, 40 healthy participants were recruited (May 2018-June 2019) to one of two research sites. Participants underwent a single MRI scan session on a 3T scanner, involving periodic inhalation of a 79% perfluoropropane/21% oxygen gas mixture.

Dynamic susceptibility contrast F-MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane: a novel approach to combined pulmonary ventilation and perfusion imaging.

Purpose: To assess alveolar perfusion by applying dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI to F-MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane (PFP). We hypothesized that passage of gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) through the pulmonary microvasculature would reduce magnetic susceptibility differences between water and gas components of the lung, elevating the of PFP.

Methods: Lung-representative phantoms were constructed of aqueous PFP-filled foams to characterize the impact of aqueous/gas phase magnetic susceptibility differences on PFP .

Optimized and accelerated F-MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane to assess regional pulmonary ventilation.

Purpose: To accelerate F-MR imaging of inhaled perfluoropropane using compressed sensing methods, and to optimize critical scan acquisition parameters for assessment of lung ventilation properties.

Methods: Simulations were performed to determine optimal acquisition parameters for maximal perfluoropropane signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in human lungs for a spoiled gradient echo sequence. Optimized parameters were subsequently employed for F-MRI of inhaled perfluoropropane in a cohort of 11 healthy participants using a 3.