Representative MRI results for a neonatal patient with severe
bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and bronchoscopically-diagnosed tracheomalacia
(TM). Collapse of the posterior tracheal wall at endexpiration is clear on both
clinically-obtained bronchoscopic images and retrospectively respiratory-gated
ultrashort echo-time (UTE) MRI results. The tracheal lumens are outlined on
end-expiration and endinspiration UTE axial images in pink and green,
respectively. Gated UTE-based tracheal surfaces are shown, along with
corresponding geometric analysis along the intrathoracic trachea:
cross-sectional areas (CSA) at end-expiration (pink) and end-inspiration
(green); and percentage reduction in CSA (A%, black). Quantitative MRI results
of dynamic collapse, particularly notable throughout the middle and lower
tracheal regions, agree with qualitative bronchoscopic results.