Bronchial Perfusion in the Lungs Observed by Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI

Nabil Saouti¹, Anton Vonk Noordegraaf¹, Michael Ingrisch², J. Tim Marcus¹

The aim is to visualise the perfusion of the lungs by the pulmonary and bronchial system separately, based on the fact that a contrast bolus injected intravenously will arrive later in the bronchial than in the pulmonary system. Included were 7 patients with whole left or right pulmonary artery atresia, and 6 chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension patients. Using 3D dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with 1 s temporal resolution, a 5 s signal-intensity onset delay was measured between open lung or lung region, and obstructed lung (region), providing evidence for bronchial arterial supply after a pulmonary artery obstruction.