H-1 magnetic resonance imaging of human lung using inversion recovery turbo spin echo

Evaluation of lung pathologies using magnetic resonance imaging remains lim ited, primarily due to the lung's low proton density and high density of ma gnetic field susceptibility gradients. It is hypothesized that visualizatio n of the lung is possible if signal intensity from muscle and/or fat is sup pressed or reduced. Using the inversion recovery and frequency selective sa turation pulse with a half-Fourier single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) or a segmented, centric reordered turbo spin-echo (TSE) readout, signal intensi ty and contrast of tissues can be manipulated to enhance the visibility of the lung. Multislice images of the lung from 10 healthy volunteers were acq uired with negligible motion artifacts. Peripheral pulmonary vessels appear well delineated. T-1 maps of the lung are also presented; the overall aver age was 1335 +/- 85 msec and 1245 +/- 93 msec with the volunteers performin g breath-holding on end-expiration and end-inspiration, respectively. This difference is statistically significant, at P < 0.01. J. Magn. Reson. Imagi ng 2000;11: 616-621. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.