美宾夕法尼亚州大学医学院开发早期检测肺脏疾病的新技术

 
研究人员开发了两种新型非侵入性技术，能够更加精确地在肺活动的时候观察肺内情况，从而能够在其他影象学检查方法能够明确检查之前，即可早期诊断疾病，例如肺气肿。

超极化氦气(3He)能够帮助放射科医生在气体进出的时候观察肺部，生成高清晰度人呼吸影像。联合使用几种影像技术，能够允许研究人员测定这些氦气分子的弥散率，这能够反应肺泡的大小。

使用另外一种新型核磁共振技术，宾夕法尼亚州大学医学院的影像研究人员正在将肺内观察水平变得更加精细，直至细胞和细胞内水平。研究人员研发了一种方法，他们希望能够寻找机体内的疾病标志物。在动物模型中，研究人员注射极化碳13标记的分子，并实时观察它的转化。因此宾夕法尼亚州大学医学院研究人员能够观察在细胞内代谢过程的碳13标记分子影像。

Penn研究人员希望在2007年末的时候将该技术应用于人类。

MRI Techniques for Earlier Detection of Lung Disease
 
Researchers have developed two new, non-invasive techniques to visualize more closely inside the working lungs, leading to early detection of diseases, such as emphysema, before it becomes evident in other imaging modes.

Hyperpolarized helium (3He) gas allows radiologists to observe the lung as gas flows in and out, giving them high-resolution images of human ventilation. Combining several imaging techniques enables researchers to measure the rate of diffusion of these helium gas molecules, which reflect the size of the air sacs in the lung.

Utilizing another new MR technique, Penn imaging researchers are driving the scale of what is seen in the lung down to an even smaller level--to that of the cellular and intracellular. Researchers have developed a method with which they hope to look for disease markers in the body. In animal models, researchers inject polarized carbon-13-labeled molecules and visualize its conversion in real-time. Thus, Penn researchers can image carbon-13-labeled molecules as they move through the metabolic processes in the cell.

Penn researchers hope to translate this technique for use in humans before the end of 2007.