Helen Marshall1, Martin H. Deppe1, Juan Parra-Robles1, Sue Hillis2, Catherine Billings2, Smitha Rajaram1, Andrew J. Swift1, Sam R. Miller3, Joanna H. Watson3, Jan Wolber4, David A. Lipson5, Rod Lawson2, Jim M. Wild1
1Academic Radiology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom; 2Respiratory Medicine, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; 3GlaxoSmithKline, Stockley Park; 4GE Healthcare, Amersham; 5GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia
Collateral ventilation is an important mechanism in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease but limited observations of it have been demonstrated in vivo. 10 COPD patients were scanned with hyperpolarised. 3He MRI using a time-resolved 3D sequence. 3He was observed moving into lung regions which were initially non-ventilated during a static breath-hold. The images show direct visual evidence of delayed gas ventilation in what we believe to be collateral ventilation in COPD. Delayed-filling of peripheral regions was also observed in some patients which may be due to increased flow resistance in the small airways.