MRI in lung transplant recipients using hyperpolarized 3He: comparison with CT

PURPOSE: To elucidate the ability of 3He-MRI to detect ventilation defects in lung transplant recipients, 3He-MRI was compared to CT for concordance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined 14 lung recipients using 3He-MRI on a 1.5 T MR scanner. CT served as a reference method. Up to four representative ventilation defects were defined for each lung on 3He-MRI and compared to corresponding areas on CT. RESULTS: Altogether, 59 representative ventilation defects were defined on 3He-MRI. Plausible CT correlates were found for 29 ventilation defects; less plausible CT correlates were found for eight defects. In 22 defects (37%) no corresponding CT changes were detected. CT demonstrated correlates for ventilation defects seen on 3He-MRI in only 63% of the cases. CONCLUSION: 3He-MRI yields a clear increase in the number of detected ventilation defects compared to CT. This may have an important impact on the early detection of bronchiolitis obliterans in lung transplant recipients.