Abstract #0902

Signal Distribution in Dissolved 129Xe MR Images of Healthy Subjects & Subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Zackary I. Cleveland¹, S. Sivaram Kaushik^1,2, Gary P. Cofer¹, John Nouls¹, Monica Kraft³, Jan Wolber⁴, H. Page McAdams⁵, Bastiaan Driehuys¹

¹Center for In Vivo Microscopy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; ²Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; ³Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; ⁴GE Healthcare, Amersham, United Kingdom; ⁵Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States

We investigate the signal intensity distribution in dissolved 129Xe images from healthy subjects and subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition to gravity-dependent SNR gradients, images from healthy subjects display significant isogravitational heterogeneity as measured by the coefficient of variation (CV). Differences in SNR and CV are observed between the left and right lungs. Left-right differences are absent in ventilation images, suggesting tissue compression by the heart alters the signal distribution in the left lung. Gravitational and left-right differences are reduced or absent in subjects with COPD, indicating dissolved 129Xe is sensitive to disease-associated changes in lung physiology.