Fig. 5

Regularized breathing (RB) significantly reduces diaphragm motion compared to free breathing (FB). Breathing peak-to-peak amplitude of the right diaphragm excursion in cranio-caudal direction, shown A over all volunteers per session, and B per volunteer and session. Regularized breathing at 22 brpm (triangles) induced by non-invasive mechanical ventilation demonstrated significantly smaller amplitudes compared to free breathing (FB, circles) in both MRI sessions. Boxes: median value and lower and higher quartiles, whiskers: lowest and highest data point within 1.5 times the inter-quartile range, ‘x’ denotes the mean value