Eric Lessard1, Alexei Ouriadov1, David G McCormack2, and Grace Parraga1
1Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, 2Department of Medicine, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Diffusion-weighted MRI
provides a way to non-invasively estimate in
vivo morphometry measurements of the alveolar ducts. Current modelling
approaches may not be appropriate for cases of severe tissue destruction where
the geometry of the acinar ducts may not be uniform, nor cylindrical. Therefore, in this proof-of-concept
evaluation, we used a single-compartment model and multiple b-value
diffusion-weighted noble gas pulmonary MRI to generate estimates of acinar duct
surface-to-volume ratio and mean-linear-intercept. In cases of very severe emphysema that accompany
alpha-one antitrypsin deficiency, this approach well-approximated the severity
of lung disease, while the cylindrical model did not.
