Specific ventilation imaging (SVI) is a noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based method for determining the regional distribution of inspired air in the lungs, useful for the assessment of pulmonary function in medical research. This technique works by monitoring the rate of magnetic resonance signal change in response to a series of imposed step changes in inspired oxygen concentration. The current SVI technique requires a complex system of tubes, valves, and electronics that are used to supply and rapidly switch inspired gases while subjects are imaged, which makes the technique difficult to translate into the clinical setting. This report discusses the design and implementation of custom three-dimensional (3D) printed hardware that greatly simplifies SVI measurement of lung function. Several hardware prototypes were modeled using computer-aided design software and printed for evaluation. After finalization of the design, the new delivery system was evaluated based on O2 and N2 concentration step responses and validated against the current SVI protocol. The design performed rapid switching of supplied gas within 250 ms and consistently supplied the desired concentration of O2 during operation. It features a reduction in the number of commercial hardware components, from five to one, and a reduction in the number of gas lines between the operator's room and the scanner room, from four to one, as well as a substantially reduced preparation time from 25 to 5 min. 3D printing is well suited to the design of inexpensive custom MRI compatible hardware, making it particularly useful in imaging-based research.

中文翻译：

---

用于肺部MRI研究的启发性气体输送系统的快速原型设计。

特定通气成像（SVI）是一种基于非侵入性磁共振成像（MRI）的方法，用于确定肺中吸气的区域分布，可用于评估医学研究中的肺功能。该技术通过监测磁共振信号变化的速率来工作，该速率响应于吸入的氧气浓度中的一系列施加的阶跃变化。当前的SVI技术需要复杂的管，阀和电子设备系统，这些系统用于在成像对象时提供和快速切换吸入的气体，这使得该技术难以转化为临床环境。本报告讨论了自定义三维（3D）打印硬件的设计和实现，该硬件大大简化了肺功能的SVI测量。使用计算机辅助设计软件对几个硬件原型进行了建模，并进行了打印以进行评估。设计完成后，根据O2和N2浓度阶跃响应对新的输送系统进行评估，并根据当前的SVI协议进行验证。该设计在250毫秒内快速切换了供气，并在运行过程中始终提供了所需的O2浓度。它的特点是将商用硬件组件的数量从五个减少到一个，并且将操作员室和扫描仪室之间的气管数量从四个减少到一个，并将准备时间从25个大大减少了。到5分钟 3D打印非常适合于廉价的定制MRI兼容硬件的设计，使其在基于成像的研究中特别有用。