PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Weijuan Zhang
AU  - Penny Hubbard
AU  - Eva Bondesson
AU  - Lars Wigström
AU  - Simon Young
AU  - David Singh
AU  - Josephine Naish
AU  - Geoffrey Parker
TI  - MRI equilibrium signal mapping is a quantitative and reproducible alternative to CT for the estimation of lung density in COPD
DP  - 2012 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 376
VI  - 40
IP  - Suppl 56
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/376.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/376.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40
AB  - In MRI, the equilibrium tissue magnetisation is proportional to tissue water density. This study aimed to explore the feasibility and reproducibility of mapping the signal (S0) associated with the equilibrium magnetisation in the assessment of structural abnormalities in COPD.MR images were acquired in 12 COPD subjects twice within 1 week for T1 and S0 mapping. Lung S0 was normalized by dividing by muscle S0 to obtain a quantitative S0 (qS0). Matched CT slices were selected to calculate PD15 and RA-950.Lung qS0 maps were reproducible with reduced values seen in regions comparable to CT detected emphysema regions. The mean and 15th, 50th, 75th percentile qS0 showed strong correlations with PD15 and RA-950.Equilibrium signal maps of MRI correlate strongly with CT density estimates, indicating that qS0 may be a reproducible, non-invasive/-ionising measure for quantifying lung density changes in COPD.View this table:Table 1. Pearson correlation coefficient between lung qS0 values and quantitative CT parameters