Yogesh kannan Mariappan1,
Kevin Glaser1, Rolf D. Hubmayr2, Armando Manduca1,
Richard L. Ehman1, Kiaran P. McGee1
1Department of
Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; 2Department of
Pulmonary & Critical Care medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
The purpose of this work was to develop magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for in vivo assessment of human lung. A modified 1H spin echo MRE pulse sequence providing a short TE of 9.4 ms was used to acquire human lung MRE data at the residual volume and the total lung capacity in 10 healthy volunteers. MRE-based density corrected stiffness values at TLC were significantly higher than those at the RV. These data indicate that 1H-based MRE can noninvasively measure the shear stiffness of lung parenchyma in vivo and can differentiate shear stiffnesses at differing respiratory states.