Pulmonary MRI: How to Do It
Yoshiharu Ohno1
1Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan

Synopsis

In 2020, the Fleischner Society published a new report, which provides consensus expert opinions regarding appropriate clinical indications of pulmonary MR imaging for not only oncologic but also pulmonary diseases. In this lecture, I present MR imaging for thoracic diseases regarding its technical aspects and major clinical indications in Japan 1) in terms of what is currently available, 2) promising but requiring further validation or evaluation, and 3) developments warranting research investigations in preclinical or patient studies.

Introduction

Since thoracic MR imaging was first used in a clinical setting, it has been suggested that MR imaging has limited clinical utility for thoracic diseases, especially lung diseases, in comparison with x-ray CT and positron emission tomography (PET)/CT. However, in many countries and states and for specific indications, MR imaging has recently become practicable. In addition, recently developed pulmonary MR imaging with ultra-short TE (UTE) has enhanced the utility of MR imaging for thoracic diseases in routine clinical practice (1, 2). Furthermore, MR imaging has been introduced as being capable of assessing pulmonary function (3, 4). It should be borne in mind, however, that these applications have so far been academically and clinically used only for healthy volunteers, but not for patients with various pulmonary diseases in Japan or other countries. In 2020, the Fleischner Society published a new report, which provides consensus expert opinions regarding appropriate clinical indications of pulmonary MR imaging for not only oncologic but also pulmonary diseases (5, 6).

Lecture topics

In this lecture, I present MR imaging for thoracic diseases regarding its technical aspects and major clinical indications in Japan 1) in terms of what is currently available, 2) promising but requiring further validation or evaluation, and 3) developments warranting research investigations in preclinical or patient studies.

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

  1. Ohno Y, Hanamatsu S, Obama Y, Ueda T, Ikeda H, Hattori H, Murayama K, Toyama H. Overview of MRI for pulmonary functional imaging.Br J Radiol. 2022 Apr 1;95(1132):20201053.
  2. Tanaka Y, Ohno Y, Hanamatsu S, Obama Y, Ueda T, Ikeda H, Iwase A, Fukuba T, Hattori H, Murayama K, Yoshikawa T, Takenaka D, Koyama H, Toyama H. State-of-the-art MR Imaging for Thoracic Diseases.Magn Reson Med Sci. 2022 Mar 1;21(1):212-234.
  3. Ohno Y, Seo JB, Parraga G, Lee KS, Gefter WB, Fain SB, Schiebler ML, Hatabu H. Pulmonary Functional Imaging: Part 1-State-of-the-Art Technical and Physiologic Underpinnings.Radiology. 2021 Jun;299(3):508-523.
  4. Gefter WB, Lee KS, Schiebler ML, Parraga G, Seo JB, Ohno Y, Hatabu H. Pulmonary Functional Imaging: Part 2-State-of-the-Art Clinical Applications and Opportunities for Improved Patient Care.Radiology. 2021 Jun;299(3):524-538.
  5. Schiebler ML, Parraga G, Gefter WB, Madore B, Lee KS, Ohno Y, Kauczor HU, Hatabu H. Synopsis from Expanding Applications of Pulmonary MRI in the Clinical Evaluation of Lung Disorders: Fleischner Society Position Paper.Chest. 2021 Feb;159(2):492-495.
  6. Hatabu H, Ohno Y, Gefter WB, Parraga G, Madore B, Lee KS, Altes TA, Lynch DA, Mayo JR, Seo JB, Wild JM, van Beek EJR, Schiebler ML, Kauczor HU; Fleischner Society. Expanding Applications of Pulmonary MRI in the Clinical Evaluation of Lung Disorders: Fleischner Society Position Paper.Radiology. 2020 Nov;297(2):286-301.
Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 30 (2022)