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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: NMR Biomed. 2015 Dec 16;30(3):10.1002/nbm.3448. doi: 10.1002/nbm.3448

Figure 14.

Figure 14

(adapted from (6)) Examples of the maps of acinar airways geometric parameters obtained with 3He lung morphometry and CT images for a GOLD 0 former smoker (left, FEV1 = 93% predicted, FEV1/FVC = 80%), a GOLD 0 smoker (middle, FEV1 = 94% predicted, FEV1/FVC = 71%), and a GOLD 2 former smoker (right, FEV1 = 62% predicted, FEV1/FVC = 56%). These images illustrate the heterogeneity of disease across the lungs and the significant increases in R and Lm, and decreases in h and Nv with COPD. Red pixels on the CT images indicate regions of emphysema (attenuation less than −950 HU). Charts on the right summarize results obtained from thirty current and former smokers; they show the increase in (a) mean chord length, (b) % EI−950, and (c) acinar duct radius, and decrease in (d) alveolar depth h with decreasing pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC by PFT. The FEV1/FVC < 70% group is statistically significant against all other groups for all measurements shown (*, P < 0.05). The FEV1/FVC 70-80% group is also statistically significant against all other groups on the 3He lung morphometry measurements (*, P < 0.05), but not on the CT-based %EI−950. Error bars are standard deviations.