Introduction of a Digital Lung Model for Validation and Refinement of Functional Lung Imaging Methods

Functional lung imaging with proton MRI based on acquisition of free-breathing image-time-series gained interest during the last years, as it offers potential for ventilation / perfusion measurements without requirement for high patient compliance or administration of contrast agents. Since these methods rely on indirect surrogate measurements, validation with more direct techniques (e.g. hyperpolarized MRI), is required, which is elaborate, costly and limited. In this study a framework for a digital lung model, including artificial pathologies, is introduced and tested for different ventilation and perfusion measurements. Using the proposed method important differences were found between the methods regarding ventilation defect detection.