Pulmonary MR imaging with ultra-short TEs: Utility for disease severity assessment of connective tissue disease patients

Purpose To evaluate the utility of pulmonary magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with ultra-short echo times (UTEs) at a 3.0 T MR system for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessments of connective tissue disease (CTD) patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). Materials and methods This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from 18 CTD patients (eight men and ten women) and eight normal subjects with suspected chest disease (three men and five women). All subjects underwent thin-section MDCT, pulmonary MR imaging with UTEs, pulmonary function test and serum KL-6. Regional T2* maps were generated from each MR data set, and mean T2* values were determined from ROI measurements. From each thin-section MDCT data set, CT-based disease severity was evaluated with a visual scoring system. Mean T2* values for normal and CTD subjects were statistically compared by using Student's t-test. To assess capability for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessments, mean T2* values were statistically correlated with pulmonary functional parameters, serum KL-6 and CT-based disease severity. Results Mean T2* values for normal and CTD subjects were significantly different (p = 0.0019) and showed significant correlations with %VC, %DL_CO, serum KL-6 and CT-based disease severity of CTD patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion Pulmonary MR imaging with UTEs is useful for pulmonary functional loss and disease severity assessments of CTD patients with ILD.