A synthetic lung model (ASYLUM) for validation of functional lung imaging methods shows significant differences between signal-based and deformation-field-based ventilation measurements

Validation of functional free-breathing MRI involves a comparison to more established or more direct measurements. This procedure is cost-intensive, as it requires access to patient cohorts, lengthy protocols, expenses for consumables, and binds working time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to introduce a synthetic lung model (ASYLUM), which mimics dynamic MRI acquisition and includes predefined lung abnormalities for an alternative validation approach. The model is evaluated with different registration and quantification methods and compared with real data.