Conceptual Approach of Diffusion- and Perfusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Chest Diseases

• Main Author: Johan Coolen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2016-11-01
• Series: Journal of the Belgian Society of Radiology
• Subjects: Diffusion-weighted MR; Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MR; Functional MR; Pleural Diseases; Mediastinal Diseases; Lung Nodule; Tissue Characterization
• Online Access: https://www.jbsr.be/articles/1223

The present manuscript discusses the development of a quantitative, and ultimately a visual approach as well, for detecting, diagnosing, staging, and following-up chest diseases. At the moment, computer tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are the modalities of choice, and despite repeated attempts to integrate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in thoracic imaging diagnosis protocols, the classic sequences have – outside radiation reduction – usually no additional benefit in diagnosis. During this thesis, the attempt was made to show that by means of functional imaging sequences a better characterization of pleural, mediastinal and lung lesions was feasible. We even evaluated early treatment response by using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) as biomarker. Where possible, the correlation was made between radiological and histopathological images.