RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Assessment of relative regional lung compliance in patients with COPD
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 1879
VO 38
IS Suppl 55
A1 Alexandra Morgan
A1 Geoff Parker
A1 Penny Hubbard
A1 David Singh
A1 Jørgen Vestbo
A1 Simon Young
A1 Eva Bondesson
A1 Lars Wigström
A1 Lars Olsson
A1 Marietta Scott
A1 Josephine Naish
YR 2011
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/1879.abstract
AB Pathologically altered lung mechanical properties are difficult to assess regionally. A method has been developed utilising structural proton MRI in conjunction with post-processing and image registration techniques to provide measures of relative regional lung compliance [1].This method was applied in 23 COPD patients and 11 healthy controls. Each subject had two supine scans, 1 week apart. Compliance maps were found to be reproducible, with increased spatial heterogeneity seen in patients compared to controls (Figure 1).Figure 1. Relative regional compliance maps for healthy controls and COPD patients (mapped on log scale).The gradient of relative compliance from lung apex to diaphragm was calculated. An increased compliance gradient was seen in moderate COPD (p<0.05), with a more significant increase in severe COPD (p<0.001) (Figure 2).Figure 2. Box plot of relative compliance gradients (found using regional relative compliance and position as fraction of lung length).The method shows significant differences between COPD patients and healthy controls with areas of altered relative regional compliance indicating likely regions of disease.Reference:1. Morgan, A.R. et al. Proc ISMRM 2010; p.2520.