Abstract
Introduction: Investigating lung disease in the pre-school population is hindered due to the lack of an easily undertaken lung imaging modality which does not requiring ionising radiation or sedation / anaesthesia.
Aims: To develop upright MRI in awake non-sedated pre-school aged children.
Methods: With parent/guardian consent, healthy children were sat upright in an open scanner (Paramed Medical Systems MROpen) scanner on their parent/guardian’s lap. A coronal 2D Spoiled GRE sequence continuously acquired proton images for 5 minutes (0.5s per image). Lungs were segmented using ANTs, and the lung regions registered. After registration, each lung region remains in the same voxel space of the registered images, and the density varies due to inspiration and expiration. Ventilation maps were calculated, as the difference in density from the average (mean) inspiratory compared to the expiratory signal.
Results: Healthy children (n=5) as young as 3 years (age range 3-12) were successfully imaged. A representative scan is shown below.
Conclusions: Ventilation lung maps can be acquired without sedation in young children. Future work will compare this imaging to other techniques in order to evaluate its clinical utility.
Figure A Representative proton image.
B Partially automated lung segmentation. C Ventilation map (arbitrary units, white – greater ventilation). There is increased ventilation at the bases.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2021; 58: Suppl. 65, PA353.
This abstract was presented at the 2021 ERS International Congress, in session “Prediction of exacerbations in patients with COPD”.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2021
