Monitoring of lung stiffness for long-COVID patients using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)

IF 2.1 4区医学 Q2 RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING

Magnetic resonance imaging Pub Date : 2024-11-02 DOI:10.1016/j.mri.2024.110269

Sabine F. Bensamoun , Kiaran P. McGee , Mashhour Chakouch , Philippe Pouletaut , Fabrice Charleux

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

Transaxial CT imaging is the main clinical imaging modality for the assessment of COVID-induced lung damage. However, this type of data does not quantify the functional properties of the lung. The objective is to provide non-invasive personalized cartographies of lung stiffness for long-COVID patients using MR elastography (MRE) and follow-up the evolution of this quantitative mapping over time.

Methods

Seven healthy and seven long-COVID participants underwent CT and MRE imaging at total lung capacity. After CT test, a senior radiologist visually analyzed the lung structure. Less than one month later, a first MRI (1.5 T, GRE sequence) lung density test followed by a first MRE (SE-EPI sequence) test were performed. Gadolinium-doped water phantom and a pneumatic driver (vibration frequency: 50 Hz), placed on the sternum, were used for MRI and MRE tests, respectively. Personalized cartographies of the stiffness were obtained, by two medical imaging engineers, using a specific post processing (MMDI algorithm). The monitoring (lung density, stiffness) was carried out no later than 11 months for each COVID patient. Wilcoxon's tests and an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were used for statistical analysis.

Results

The density for long-COVID patients was significantly (P = 0.047) greater (170 kg.m⁻³) compared to healthy (125 kg.m⁻³) subjects. After the first MRE test, the stiffness measured for the healthy subjects was in the same range (median value (interquartile range, IQR): 0.93 (0.09) kPa), while the long-COVID patients showed a larger stiffness range (from 1.39 kPa to 2.05 kPa). After a minimum delay of 5 months, the second MRE test showed a decrease of stiffness (from 22 % to 40 %) for every long-COVID patient. The inter-operator agreement was excellent (intra-class correlation coefficient: 0.93 [0.78–0.97]).

Conclusion

The MRE test is sensitive enough to monitor disease-induced change in lung stiffness (increase with COVID symptoms and decrease with recovery). This non-invasive modality could yield complementary information as a new imaging biomarker to follow up long-COVID patients.

查看原文本刊更多论文

使用磁共振弹性成像技术（MRE）监测长COVID患者的肺部僵硬度。

目的：横轴 CT 成像是评估 COVID 引起的肺损伤的主要临床成像模式。然而，这类数据并不能量化肺的功能特性。我们的目标是利用磁共振弹性成像（MRE）为长期 COVID 患者提供非侵入性的肺部僵硬度个性化图谱，并跟踪这种定量图谱随时间的变化情况：方法：七名健康人和七名长期慢性阻塞性肺气肿患者分别接受了 CT 和总肺活量下的磁共振弹性成像检查。CT 测试后，一位资深放射科医生对肺部结构进行了目测分析。不到一个月后，进行了首次核磁共振成像（1.5 T，GRE 序列）肺密度测试和首次 MRE（SE-EPI 序列）测试。核磁共振成像和 MRE 测试分别使用了掺钆水模型和放置在胸骨上的气动驱动器（振动频率：50 赫兹）。两名医学影像工程师通过特定的后处理（MMDI 算法）获得了个性化的僵硬度绘图。对每位 COVID 患者的监测（肺密度、肺硬度）在 11 个月内完成。统计分析采用 Wilcoxon 检验和类内相关系数（ICC）：结果：与健康人（125 kg.m-3）相比，COVID 长期患者的密度（170 kg.m-3）明显更高（P = 0.047）。首次 MRE 测试后，健康受试者测得的僵硬度范围相同（中位值（四分位数间距，IQR）：0.93 (0.09) kPa），而长期 COVID 患者测得的僵硬度范围更大（从 1.39 kPa 到 2.05 kPa）。至少延迟 5 个月后，第二次 MRE 测试显示，每位长 COVID 患者的僵硬度都有所下降（从 22% 降至 40%）。操作者之间的一致性非常好（类内相关系数：0.93 [0.78-0.97]）：MRE测试的灵敏度足以监测疾病引起的肺部僵硬度变化（随COVID症状增加而增加，随恢复而减少）。作为一种新的成像生物标志物，这种无创模式可为长期随访 COVID 患者提供补充信息。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Magnetic resonance imaging 医学-核医学

CiteScore

4.70

自引率

4.00%

发文量

194

审稿时长

83 days

期刊介绍： Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the first international multidisciplinary journal encompassing physical, life, and clinical science investigations as they relate to the development and use of magnetic resonance imaging. MRI is dedicated to both basic research, technological innovation and applications, providing a single forum for communication among radiologists, physicists, chemists, biochemists, biologists, engineers, internists, pathologists, physiologists, computer scientists, and mathematicians.