Feasibility of Dynamic Inhaled Gas MRI-Based Measurements Using Acceleration Combined with the Stretched Exponential Model.

Dynamic inhaled gas (He/Xe/F) MRI permits the acquisition of regional fractional-ventilation which is useful for detecting gas-trapping in lung-diseases such as lung fibrosis and COPD. Deninger's approach used for analyzing the wash-out data can be substituted with the stretched-exponential-model (SEM) because signal-intensity is attenuated as a function of wash-out-breath in F lung imaging. Thirteen normal-rats were studied using He/Xe and F MRI and the ventilation measurements were performed using two 3T clinical-scanners.