Mapping Cardio-Pulmonary Dynamics within the Microvasculature of the Lungs using Dissolved 129Xe MRI.

Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopy using dissolved hyperpolarized (HP) 129Xe have expanded the ability to probe lung function regionally and non-invasively. In particular, HP 129Xe imaging has been used to quantify impaired gas uptake by the pulmonary tissues. Whole-lung spectroscopy has also been used to assess global cardiogenic oscillations in the MR signal intensity originating from 129Xe dissolved in the red blood cells of pulmonary capillaries. Herein, we show that the magnitude of these cardiogenic dynamics can be mapped 3-dimensionally using radial MRI, because dissolved 129Xe dynamics are encoded directly in the raw imaging data. Specifically, 1-point Dixon imaging is combined with post-acquisition, keyhole image reconstruction to assess regional blood volume fluctuations within the pulmonary microvasculature throughout the cardiac cycle. This "oscillation mapping" was applied in healthy subjects (mean amplitude 9% of total RBC signal) and patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, mean 4%) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, mean 14%). Whole-lung mean values from these oscillation maps correlated strongly with spectroscopy and clinical pulmonary function testing, but exhibited significant regional heterogeneity, including gravitationally dependent gradients in healthy subjects. Moreover, regional oscillations were found to be sensitive to disease state. Greater percentages of the lungs exhibit low-amplitude oscillations in PAH patients, and longitudinal imaging shows high-amplitude oscillations increase significantly over time (4-14 months, p = 0.02) in IPF patients. This technique enables regional dynamics within the pulmonary capillary bed to be measured, and in doing so, provides insights into the origin and progression of pathophysiology within the lung microvasculature.