Perfusion imaging of the human lung using Flow-Sensitive Alternating Inversion Recovery with an Extra Radiofrequency pulse (FAIRER)

Pulmonary perfusion is an important parameter in the evaluation of lung dis eases such as pulmonary embolism, A noninvasive MR perfusion imaging techni que of the lung is presented in which magnetically labeled blood water is u sed as an endogenous, freely diffusible tracer. The perfusion imaging techn ique is an arterial spin tagging method called Flow sensitive Alternating I nversion Recovery with an Extra Radiofrequency pulse (FAIRER). Seven health y human volunteers were studied. High-resolution perfusion-weighted images with negligible artifacts were acquired within a single breathhold, Differe nt patterns of signal enhancement were observed between the pulmonary vesse ls and parenchyma, which persists up to TI = 1400 ms. The T(1)s of blood an d lung parenchyma were determined to be 1.46s and 1.35 s, respectively, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.