Imaging of Lungs With a New Type of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Called UTE (Ultrashort Echo Time)

Interstitial, obstructive, and rare lung diseases are pulmonary disorders that comprise more than 300 disease entities that are poorly understood, diagnosed, and treated. X-ray computed tomography (CT) is the imaging gold standard and the current clinical practice for imaging lung structure and function of patients. Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pulse sequences and hardware with ultra short echo times (UTE) have enabled MRI of lung anatomy nearly comparable to CT without the risk of ionizing radiation.

The overreaching goals of this study are:

• to allow for technical development and validation of UTE MRI sequences as an imaging alternative to CT as well as a future diagnostic tool, and
• to allow for preliminary UTE data generation for healthy and various disease populations. We anticipate this as being particularly important for data on children where variability is greater due to normal variations in size, age and maturity as well as distinctive differences in expression of lung diseases in pediatrics versus adult populations.

This is a prospective, controlled study for technical development and validation of UTE MRI techniques with normal and disease cohorts. This study will use the standard MRI hardware (FDA approved coils and magnet) but will be developing and refining techniques used in the MRI sequences to obtain UTE images. This refinement includes varying the MRI settings to maximize image signal, to control image contrast, and to develop the software needed to acquire more specialized images for the purpose of improved imaging of the lungs. The data will also be used to collect normative data for comparison with lung pathologies.

Subjects may enroll more than once (with separate consent). For these subjects the MRI information may be used to generate data for in-subject temporal variability in both healthy controls and disease groups.

Inclusion criteria

• Signed informed consent or Parental Permission
• Age ≥ 5 years
• Willing and able to comply with MRI instructions

Exclusion criteria

• History of any comorbidity reviewed at the Screening Visit that, in the opinion of the investigator, might confound the results of the study or pose an additional risk to the subject.
• Standard MRI exclusion criteria as set forth by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Radiology Department and Imaging Research Center.
• Pregnancy