Clinical aspects of the apparent diffusion coefficient in 3He MRI: results in healthy volunteers and patients after lung transplantation.

Purpose To measure the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) after inhalation of hyperpolarized 3He in healthy volunteers and lung transplant recipients, and demonstrate the gravity dependence of ADC values. Materials and Methods Six healthy volunteers, 10 patients after single-lung transplantation, and six patients after double-lung transplantation were examined at 1.5T during inspiration and expiration. The inhalation of 300 mL of hyperpolarized 3He was performed with a computer-controlled delivery device. A two-dimensional fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence measured the 3He diffusive gas movement. From these data the ADC was calculated. Results The mean ADC was 0.143 cm2/second in healt…