Grace Parraga, Ph.D.

Daniel F Alamidi¹, Alexandra R Morgan^2,3, Penny L Hubbard Cristinacce³, Lars H Nordenmark⁴, Paul D Hockings^4,5, Kerstin M Lagerstrand¹, Simon S Young⁶, Josephine H Naish³, John C Waterton^3,6, Lars E Olsson⁷, and Geoff J.M Parker^2,3
1Department of Radiation Physics, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, ²Bioxydyn Ltd, Manchester, United Kingdom, ³Centre for Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Imaging Institute, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ⁴AstraZeneca R&D, Mölndal, Sweden, ⁵Chalmers University of Technology, MedTech West, Gothenburg, Sweden,⁶AstraZeneca R&D, Alderley Park, United Kingdom, ⁷Department of Medical Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Cigarette smoking is the primary cause of COPD. MRI may improve disease characterization with new lung function assessments where often T1 measurements are included. We investigated whether tobacco smoke exposure affects lung T1 in COPD patients. Free breathing T1 measurements were performed in 23 COPD smokers and 11 healthy age-matched non-smokers. A strong correlation between smoke exposure and T1 was observed, that may be due to smoking-induced lung pathology or the presence of impurities in the lung. Consequently, the smoking history of a patient is an essential factor when T1 is used as a readout in studies of lung diseases.

David J. Roach^1,2, Yannick Crémillieux³, Suraj Serai⁴, Robert Thomen^1,5, Sadia Benzaquen⁶, and Jason C. Woods^1,2
1Center for Pulmonary Imaging Research, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, ²Pulmonary Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, ³Centre de Résonance Magnétique des Systèmes Biologiques, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, ⁴Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, ⁵Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, ⁶University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

We investigated whether lung ultrashort echo-time (UTE) MRI could generate quantitative imaging biomarkers for patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD patients and control subjects were imaged via UTE MRI; these images were compared to chest CTs, both qualitatively and quantitatively. UTE MRI signal intensity was lower in the COPD group (p<0.001) and emphysema index (EI) was higher (p<0.006). EI of MRI correlated well with EI calculated via CT (R2=0.82). This study demonstrates that UTE MRI can be employed to quantify tissue destruction in emphysema patients, and can potentially assess COPD extent and severity.

Edwin J. van Beek, M.D., Ph.D.

Yoshiharu Ohno^1,2, Shinichiro Seki³, Hisanobu Koyama³, Takeshi Yoshikawa^1,2, Sumiaki Matsumoto^1,2, Yoshiko Ueno³, Katsusuke Kyotani⁴, Yoshimori Kassai⁵, Masao Yui⁵, Hitoshi Yamagata⁵, and Kazuro Sugimura^3
1Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, ²Division of Functional and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, ³Division of Radiology, Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, ⁴Center for Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Kobe University Hospital, KObe, Hyogo, Japan, ⁵Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Tochigi, Japan

Clinicians are frequently asked to evaluate the accurate N-stage because it is essential for choosing the appropriate surgical treatment for NSCLC patients. We hypothesized that diagnostic performance for N-stage assessment on DWI with FASE sequence had higher than that on DWI with EPI sequence and FDG-PET/CT in NSCLC patients. The purpose of this study was directly compare the capability for N-stage assessment of DWI using an FASE sequence (FASE-DWI) with that of DWI using the EPI sequence (EPI-DWI) and PET/CT in NSCLC patients.

Nicholas Scott Burris¹, Peder Larson¹, Kevin M Johnson², Michael D Hope³, Spencer Behr³, and Thomas A Hope^3
1Radiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States, ²University of Wisconsin–Madison, WI, United States, ³University of California San Francisco, CA, United States

Using an investigational 3T PET/MR system, 3D ultra-short TE (UTE) and zero TE sequences (ZTE) were used to evaluate pulmonary nodules in 5 oncology patients undergoing clinical PET/CT, with CT considered the gold-standard. UTE was highly sensitive for nodules ≥8mm (95%) and moderately sensitive for smaller nodules between 4-6mm in size (71%). ZTE was less sensitive for >8mm (51%) and nodules 4-6mm (42%). PET-avid nodules were detected at higher rates by both sequences. Preliminary results of UTE for pulmonary nodule detection are promising, and UTE may offer an alterative approach to PET/MR evaluation of oncology patients in the future.

Jim M. Wild, Ph.D.

Daniel Stäb^1,2, Simon Veldhoen², Andre Fischer², Stefan Weick^3,4, Andreas Max Weng², Clemens Wirth², Thorsten A Bley², and Herbert Köstler^2
1The Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, ²Institute of Radiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany, ³Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany, ⁴Department of Experimental Physics 5, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany

Fourier Decomposition MRI facilitates the reconstruction of perfusion weighted images from a time series of morphologic lung images. We demonstrate that perfusion-weighted data obtained by SENCEFUL, a Fourier Decomposition based method employing respiratory and cardiac self-navigation for the calculation of the image series, carries also information about the phase of the pulmonary perfusion. Pulmonary perfusion phase maps can be calculated which may contain diagnostically valuable information and might be helpful for refining the diagnostic information given by the perfusion maps. Examples of one volunteer and one patient with cystic fibrosis are given.

Nawal Tassali¹, Andrea Bianchi¹, François Lux², Gerard Raffard¹, Stephane Sanchez¹, Olivier Tillement², and Yannick Cremillieux^1
1Centre de Resonance Magnetique des Systemes Biologiques, CNRS UMR 5536, Universite de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, ²Institut Lumière Matière, CNRS UMR 5306, Universite Claude Bernard, Domaine Scientifique de la Doua, Villeurbane, France

Pulmonary fibrosis is a lethal disease and models are critical to develop diagnostic approaches. We investigated here whether MRI combined with gadolinium-based nanoparticles can help visualize and characterize lung fibrosis in mice. Gd-based contrast agent was intra-tracheally administered in bleomycin-treated and in healthy mice and UTE-MRI images were acquired. Signal enhancement (SE), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and pharmacokinetics of the nanoparticles in mice lungs were quantified. A SE of 120%, a twofold increase of CNR and a longer elimination time constant of the nanoparticles were obtained in bleomycin-treated mice. These findings demonstrate new imaging protocols for detecting and characterizing fibrotic tissues.