Upright MRI in Lung Disease

This is a single centre, proof of concept clinical trial. The investigators want to recruit healthy volunteers, patients with diaphragmatic weakness and patients with COPD whose lungs are hyperinflated. Half the investigators are clinicians and have asked their patient whether such a study would interest them, and patients have been very supportive. This study addresses an unanswered clinical question. The participants will be adults, men and women, who can give informed consent, and can cooperate with the study procedures. As the participants will be scanned using MRI, people who are unsuitable for MRI scanning, for example those with a pacemaker, will be excluded from the study for safety reasons.The participant will be observed by a clinical investigator throughout the study visit. As for side effects / risks, no medicinal products will be administered in this study. Some participants may experience anxiety while undergoing MRI scan. It is expected that some patients may not be able to lie flat in the scanner, in which case they will be asked only to undergo scans that they are able to tolerate. In addition to being scanned using an upright MRI and a conventional MRI, the following measurements will be takes: weight, height, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and spirometry. The participants will be asked to fill a St George's Respiratory Questionnaire and an MRC (Medical Research Council) Dyspnoea Scale. A detailed medical history will be taken. The participants will be assigned unique codes, and their data will be anonymised. Participants' medical reports will only be accessed for study purposes and will be treated as confidential. The investigators will aim to use the data to plan future studies, and the data from this study may contribute to publications and presentations. Participants will not be identified in any publications arising from the research. The data obtained will be published without any identifying information..