Free-Breathing Vs. Breath-Hold Pulmonary Perfusion MRI: Quantification and Reproducibility

Michael Ingrisch¹, Daniel Maxien¹, Felix Schwab¹, Maximilian F. Reiser¹, Konstantin Nikolaou¹, Olaf Dietrich¹

Pulmonary perfusion can be assessed with a DCE MRI measurement which is usually performed during breath hold. However, pulmonary perfusion depends strongly on the phase of the breathing cycle during which breath hold is performed. This leads to a poor reproducibility of quantitative estimates of pulmonary perfusion. Since it was recently demonstrated that pulmonary perfusion can also be assessed from a measurement during free breathing, this volunteer study therefore investigates whether an acquisition during free breathing, which also has a better patient compliance, leads to parameter estimates with a better reproducibility than an acquisition during inspiratory breath hold.