Lung micromechanical modelling using in vivo regional pulmonary functional magnetic resonance imaging

专用于肺的成像方法的最新进展包括涉及提供独特的磁共振成像（MRI）信号或对比度的吸入气体的方法。 这些新的MRI方法是基于惰性气体如3He和129He的磁化（或超极化），并已在少数成像研究中心（包括我们）率先用于测量肺功能，直到现在还不可能。 肺功能和力学的传统观点来源于简单的2室模型和测量，这些模型和测量是使用固定到切除肺的气管末端的口部或管处的压力和流量测量而开发的。 尽管这些传统方法的重要性，但不幸的是，还不可能结合局部肺信息以更好地开发肺功能和力学模型。 为了直接解决这个几十年的老问题，我们建议将肺成像测量气道和空域的结构和功能纳入现有的肺微观力学模型，并开发新的模型和测试这些使用区域功能成像信息。 因此，我们提出的研究计划的总体目标是开发新的方法来使用肺组织和气道功能和结构的定量测量来自3He和129HNMR图像阻塞性肺病，如哮喘和COPD以及健康志愿者，以生成和开发健康和患病肺的生物力学的强大的数学模型。这种方法提供了一种方法来合并，测试和验证区域在体内成像测量，以生成新的肺的微机械模型。

Recent advances in imaging methods dedicated to the lung include methods that involve inhaled gases that provide a unique magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal or contrast. These novel MRI methods as based on the magnetization (or hyperpolarization) of noble gases such as 3He and 129Xe and have been pioneered at a handful of imaging research centres (including ours) for measurements of lung function that until now have never been possible. The traditional view of lung function and mechanics has been derived from simple 2 compartment models and measurements developed using pressure and flow measurements at the mouth or tubes fixed to the end of the trachea of excised lungs. Despite the importance of these traditional approaches, it has unfortunately, not yet been possible to incorporate regional lung information to better develop lung models of function and mechanics. To directly address this decades-old problem, we propose to incorporate lung imaging measurements of airway and airspace structure and function into existing models of lung micromechanics and to develop new models and test these using regional functional imaging information. Therefore the overarching objective of our proposed research program is to develop new ways to use lung tissue and airway functional and structural quantitative measurements derived from 3He and 129Xe MR images in obstructive lung disease like asthma and COPD as well as healthy volunteers to generate and develop robust mathematical models of the biomechanics in healthy and diseased lung. This approach provides a way to incorporate, test and validate regional in vivo imaging measurements to generate novel micromechanical models of the lung.