Early experience of oxygen enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI) in ataxia telangiectasia (A-T)

Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) is characterised by progressive ataxia, immunodeficiency, malignancy and chronic lung infection. Respiratory disease and cancer are leading causes of death. Imaging the lungs is challenging due to sensitivity to ionising radiation. Dynamic oxygen enhanced MRI (OE-MRI) characterises the arrival of oxygen into lung tissue by monitoring changes in MR signal on hyperoxia. No breath-hold is required. OEMRI has not previously been used in A-T. Aims: We aimed to assess the feasibility of undertaking OE-MRI in A-T. We hypothesized that children with A-T would be able to successfully complete an OE-MRI protocol. Methods: We studied children and young people with A-T. Participants have been enrolled to a 3 year cohort study. OE-MRI was done in a 1.5T GE systems machine, with image analysis with the Pulmolux (Bioxydyn, Ltd) platform. Results: We present early results from the first 5 participants (aged 9 – 15). All children undertook the OE-MRI protocol without sedation. Patient experience feedback from the scans has been positive. The median signal enhancement due to O2 breathing was 15%. Heterogeneity of oxygen delivery was observed, suggestive of ventilation variability. Conclusions: OE-MRI is feasible in children with A-T without sedation. Work is ongoing to understand OE-MRI reproducibility and role in A-T. Fig: Overlay of O2 enhancement map [%] over anatomical images.