"JOURNAL OF RADIO ELECTRONICS" (Zhurnal Radioelektroniki)  ISSN 1684-1719, N 11, 2018

contents of issue      DOI  10.30898/1684-1719.2018.11.16     full text in Russian (pdf)  

Visualization of the laboratory animals respiratory system using 19F MRI

 

O. S. Pavlova 1, V. N. Semenova 1, M. V. Gulyaev 2, L. L. Gervits 3, Yu. A. Pirogov 1,4

 

1 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Leninskie gory 1-2, Moscow 119992, Russia

2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Fundamental Medicine, Lomonosovsky prospect 27-1, Moscow 119991, Russia

3 Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Vavilova 28, Moscow 115409, Russia

4 National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine, Kashirskoe shosse 31, Moscow 115409, Russia

 

The paper is received on November 19, 2018

 

Abstract.  The visualization of respiratory system of humans and animals is an important biomedical task. Up-to-date, there are some methods aimed at lung imaging (CT, X-ray, spirometry, SPECT). However, they are able to reveal global lung lesions or/and use harmful ionizing radiation. Therefore, the development of techniques for visualization of respiratory system using method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which does not cause changes in structure (on molecular level) and functions of biological tissue, is of current interest. The use of conventional MRI techniques aimed at the visualization of hydrogen nuclei for lung imaging is very complicated because of low concentration of hydrogen atoms in lungs. However, there are some techniques, which allow to obtain MR images of respiratory system. They are based on the visualization of gases which fill the organs of respiratory system (lungs, trachea, bronchi) and create strong NMR signal on the larmor frequency of the inhaled gas. The hyperpolarized (HP) noble gases (129Õå, 3Íå, 83Kr) or fluorinated ones can be used for this purpose. Although the quality of MR images of lungs obtained with HP gases is very high, this technique is not widely applied in clinic because of complex and expensive procedure of the HP gas production.  On the other hand, fluorinated gases are much cheaper and does not require any specific preliminary preparation.  In this work, we use gas perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) C4F8 as inhaled for MR lung imaging gas, which was mixed with oxygen in the proportion of 70% to 30%, respectively. In comparison with the other fluorinated gases used in this field before (ÑF4, SF6, C2F6), PFCB has 8 magnetically equivalent nuclei and it is more lipophilic because its molecule contains only CF2-groups. We showed the possibility to obtain 3D 19F-MR images of respiratory system with the sufficient resolution for diagnostic unventilated lung areas, which can appear as a result of damages or diseases. Obtained images also allow to visualize trachea and bronchi. We did not use breath-holding methods during the MRI study and obtained 19F-MR images for a longer time with higher resolution than it can be obtained for a breath-holding time (around 15 seconds). Such an approach could be especially important for patients with pulmonology diseases (COPD, fibrosis, asthma, etc.), because it is difficult for them to take deep breathes and hold it even for 15 seconds. At the same time, the carrying out of longer procedures that do not hamper their spontaneous breathing does not cause any malaises.

Keywords: 19F-MRI, respiratory system imaging, lung imaging, fluorine-containing gases, perfluorocyclobutane.

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For citation:
 O. S. Pavlova, V. N. Semenova, M. V. Gulyaev, L. L. Gervits, Yu. A. Pirogov. Visualization of the laboratory animals respiratory system using 19F MRI. Zhurnal Radioelektroniki - Journal of Radio Electronics. 2018. No. 11. Available at http://jre.cplire.ru/jre/nov18/16/text.pdf

DOI  10.30898/1684-1719.2018.11.16