Modelling Whole-Lung and Regional Carbon Monoxide Transfer Factor with Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI in Asthma and COPD Patients

Hyperpolarized 129Xe ventilation and dissolved-phase MRI metrics were used to predict the carbon monoxide transfer factor (TLCO) in the lungs of patients with asthma and/or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) using two linear regression models: (1) an existing analytical model based on physiology and (2) a machine learning model, which also included patient age and sex in the prediction. The machine learning model was further extended to create TLCO maps, providing a regional visualization of this gold standard measure of gas transfer.