MREIT Conductivity Imaging of Pneumonic Canine Lung: Preliminary Feasibility Study

Woo Chul Jeong¹, Munish Chauhan¹, Hyung Joong Kim¹, Hee Myung Park², Oh In Kwon², Eung Je Woo¹

MREIT is one of the unique imaging modalities capable of visualizing a high-resolution conductivity distribution of the human body in a non-invasive manner. Unlike conventional MRI, we expect MREIT to be effective in chest imaging. To investigate any change of electrical conductivity due to pneumonia, canine chests having a regional pneumonic model were scanned along with separate scans of chest having no disease model. Reconstructed conductivity images of normal lungs exhibit a peculiar pattern of salt and pepper noise. Conductivity images of pneumonic lungs show significantly enhanced conductivity contrast in the lung parenchyma due to the accumulation of pleural fluid.