Functional MR Imaging of the Lung

Recent development of MR techniques has overcome many problems, such as susceptibility artifacts or motion artifact, allowing both static and dynamic MR lung imaging and providing quantitative information of pulmonary function, including perfusion, ventilation, and respiratory motion. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR perfusion imaging is suitable for the evaluation of angiogenesis of pulmonary solitary nodules. 129Xe MR imaging is potentially a robust technique for the evaluation of various pulmonary function and may replace 3He. The information provided by these new MR imaging methods is proving useful in research and in clinical applications in various lung diseases.