Assessment of Global and Regional Lung Compliance in Pulmonary Fibrosis With Hyperpolarized Gas MRI

Background Lung compliance, a biomarker of pulmonary fibrosis, is generally measured globally. Hyperpolarized 129 Xe gas MRI offers the potential to evaluate lung compliance regionally, allowing for visualization of changes in lung compliance associated with fibrosis. Purpose To assess global and regional lung compliance in a rat model of pulmonary fibrosis using hyperpolarized 129 Xe gas MRI. Study Type Prospective. Animal Model Twenty Sprague–Dawley male rats with bleomycin‐induced fibrosis model (N = 10) and saline‐treated controls (N = 10). Field Strength/Sequence 7‐T, fast low‐angle shot (FLASH) sequence. Assessment Lung compliance was determined by fitting lung volumes derived from segmented 129 Xe MRI with an iterative selection method, to corresponding airway pressures. Similarly, lung compliance was obtained with computed tomography for cross‐validation. Direction‐dependencies of lung compliance were characterized by regional lung compliance ratios (R) in different directions. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and histological analysis were used to validate the pulmonary fibrosis model and assess its correlation with 129 Xe lung compliance. Statistical Tests Shapiro–Wilk tests, unpaired and paired t ‐tests, Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results For the entire lung, the global and regional lung compliance measured with 129 Xe gas MRI showed significant differences between the groups, and correlated with the global lung compliance measured using PFTs (global: r = 0.891; regional: r = 0.873). Additionally, for the control group, significant difference was found in mean regional compliance between areas, eg, 0.37 (0.32, 0.39) × 10 −4 mL/cm H 2 O and 0.47 (0.41, 0.56) × 10 −4 mL/cm H 2 O for apical and basal lung, respectively. The apical‐basal direction R was 1.12 ± 0.09 and 1.35 ± 0.13 for fibrosis and control groups, respectively, indicating a significant difference. Data Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of using hyperpolarized gas MRI to assess regional lung compliance. Evidence Level 2 Technical Efficacy Stage 1