A-083 Bon appétit! Starters”: cystic fibrosis, pneumonia and pulmonary embolism

M.U. Puderbach | Friday, March 8, 08:30 – 10:00 / Room F2

CF: MRI is comparable to CT with regard to the detection of relevant morphological changes in the CF lung. Compared to CT, the strength of MRI is the additional assessment of “function”, i.e. perfusion, pulmonary haemodynamics and ventilation. In CF, regional ventilatory defects cause changes in regional lung perfusion due to the hypoxic vasoconstriction response or tissue destruction. Using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, these perfusion changes can be assessed. Pulmonary embolism: The current imaging reference technique in evaluation of acute pulmonary embolism is helical computed tomography. To be competitive with CT, an abbreviated MR protocol focusing on lung vessel imaging and lung perfusion may be accomplished within 15 min in-room time. As a first step, a steady-state GRE sequence acquired in two or three planes during free breathing enables a non-contrast-enhanced detection of large central emboli. As a second step, the protocol continues with the contrast-enhanced steps including first pass perfusion imaging, high spatial resolution contrast-enhanced (CE) MRA and a final acquisition with a volumetric interpolated 3D FLASH sequence in transverse orientation. Pneumonia: The potential of MRI to replace chest radiography, particularly in children, was already investigated several years ago. The experience from this work may be considered valid for the suggested protocols for 1.5-T scanners since image quality has significantly improved. Therefore, T2-weighted fat-suppressed as well as dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-GRE sequences are applied with a slice thickness between 5 and 6 mm. Disease entities encompassing community-acquired pneumonia, empyema, fungal infections and chronic bronchitis are detectable.

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