In this lecture, I present 1) theory of oxygen-enhancement; 2) clinical study results; and 3) future direction and new technique for oxygen-enhanced MR imaging.
Since 1996, oxygen-enhanced MR imaging has been studying in all over the world. It is suggested as having the potential for providing the regional information based on not only ventilation, but also oxygen diffusion to the capillary bed as well as perfusion. Therefore, oxygen-enhanced MR imaging would be better to be considered as not only ventilation, but also respiratory-related MR imaging in routine clinical practice.
In the last decade, oxygen-enhanced MR imaging was tested in patients with lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), asthma, pulmonary vascular diseases, interstitial lung disease and cystic fibrosis. In addition, this technique was demonstrated the utility of management of asthmatics and candidate for surgical treatment for non-small cell lung cancer and lung volume reduction surgery for COPD.
In this lecture, I present 1) theory of oxygen-enhancement; 2) clinical study of oxygen-enhanced MR imaging; and 3) future direction and new technique for oxygen-enhanced MR imaging. We believe this technique will be applied as one of pulmonary functional MR imaging, and can play as complementary role for management of patients with pulmonary diseases in routine clinical practice in near future.