1University
of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 2Children's
Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
We propose a novel MRI approach that involves real-time imaging and synchronized collection of several physiological signals (i.e., airway pressure, respiratory effort, heart rate, oxygen saturation) to assess dynamics of the pharyngeal airway in children with sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD). Our proposed imaging sequence can run continuously for several hours and is compatible with natural sleep. We demonstrate that changes in airway cross-sectional area differ with SRBD phenotype.