• Amir M Owrangi, Jian X Wang, Andrew Wheatley, David G McCormack, and Grace Parraga.
• Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, 100 Perth Drive, London, Canada N6A 5K8; Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Electronic address: aowrangi@robats.ca.
• Eur J Radiol. 2014 Jan 1; 83 (1): 64-72.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between short echo time pulmonary (1)H magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal intensity (SI) and (3)He MRI apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC), high-resolution computed tomography (CT) measurements of emphysema, and pulmonary function measurements.Materials And MethodsNine healthy never-smokers and 11 COPD subjects underwent same-day plethysmography, spirometry, short echo time ((TE)=1.2ms) (1)H and diffusion-weighted hyperpolarized (3)He MRI (b=1.6s/cm(2)) at 3.0T. In addition, for COPD subjects only, CT densitometry was also performed.ResultsMean (1)H SI was significantly greater for never-smokers (12.1 ± 1.1 arbitrary units (AU)) compared to COPD subjects (10.9 ± 1.3 AU, p=0.04). The (1)H SI AP-gradient was also significantly greater for never-smokers (0.40 AU/cm, R(2)=0.94) compared to COPD subjects (0.29 AU/cm, R(2)=0.968, p=0.05). There was a significant correlation between (1)H SI and (3)He ADC (r=-0.58, p=0.008) and significant correlations between (1)H MR SI and CT measurements of emphysema (RA950, r=-0.69, p=0.02 and HU15, r=0.66, p=0.03).ConclusionsThe significant and moderately strong relationship between (1)H SI and (3)He ADC, as well as between (1)H SI and CT measurements of emphysema suggests that these imaging methods and measurements may be quantifying similar tissue changes in COPD and that pulmonary (1)H SI may be used to monitor emphysema as a complement to CT and noble gas MRI.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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