Chapter 15: MRI, Pollution, and Human Health: Recent Advances in Clinical Practice

Air pollution is caused by microscopic particles that are responsible for health damage. Particulate matter can be either ingested with saliva, thus damaging the gastrointestinal tract, or it can be inhaled, thereby affecting the respiratory system. Applications of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the gastrointestinal district have been known for some time. Conversely, lung MRI has not gained attraction, yet, due to several problems, among which long acquisition times, requiring apneas of a few minutes to avoid motion artifacts, and spatial resolution play the major role. The introduction of artificial intelligence will make it possible to acquire reliable images without the long apnea problems and automatically eliminate breathing artifacts. This chapter deals with the newest developments of MRI applied to health problems caused by environmental pollution.