NCT07454681

MRI Assessment of Lung Airways in Cystic Fibrosis: Evaluate MRI's Ability to Detect Changes in Airway Structure .

Development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Airway Segmentation to Assess and Monitor Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 76 (estimated)
• Sponsor: The Hospital for Sick Children · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 6 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study is being done to determine whether MRI can produce high quality lung and airway images in healthy and CF patients and if MRI can be used to evaluate size and shape of the airways with computer assistance. This study will also repeat MRI experiments two years after the initial MRI scan to see if changes to airway size and shape are seen over time. In a subset of participants, we will investigate whether MRI results are repeatable and reproducible in the short-term one week after the initial MRI visit. This study will help understand if MRI based measurements of airway size and shape can be used as a monitoring tool that does not use x-ray radiation in patients with CF.

Detailed description

Early CF disease in the lungs is characterized by repeated infection which can alter dimensions of the airways , especially abnormal dilation of the airways (bronchiectasis) Airway tree mapping is a form of quantitative imaging that investigates segmentation and dimensionality of the upper airways. CT detects utilized to characterize airway dimension in adults with COPD, but involves ionizing radiation. Unexplored in children. MRI: Non-invasive, radiation-free, ideal for longitudinal monitoring. However, struggles with lung imaging due to low signal intensity, short T2 relaxation times, and motion artifacts Advanced ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI enables high-resolution airway imaging with motion correction for free-breathing airway imaging. May permit airway tree mapping in children while obviating ionizing radiation risk.

Conditions

• Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Advanced ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI - Ultrashort echo time (UTE) imaging is a technique that can quickly capture the fast-decaying 1H lung signal.	UTE lung MRI with various parameters will be done to determine optimal image quality for airway segmentation. The average scanning time for each sequence is in the order of 10 minutes.
DEVICE	Multiple Breath Wash out (MBW)	Lung clearance index (LCI) will be determined by nitrogen multiple breath washout using the Exhalyzer D for measurement of inert gas washout. LCI measures will be taken in triplicate to ensure reproducibility.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-04-15
• Primary completion: 2028-12-31
• Completion: 2029-12-31
• First posted: 2026-03-06
• Last updated: 2026-03-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada