Hyperpolarized noble gas magnetic resonance imaging of the animal lung: Approaches and applications

摘要: Hyperpolarized noble gas (HNG) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a very promising noninvasive tool for the investigation of animal models lung disease, particularly to follow longitudinal changes in function and anatomy without accumulated radiation dose associated with x rays. The two most common gases this purpose are H3e (helium 3) X129e (xenon 129), latter providing cost-effective approach clinical applications. Hyperpolarization typically achieved using spin-exchange optical pumping techniques resulting ∼10 000-fold improvement available magnetization compared conventional Boltzmann polarizations. This substantial increase polarization allows high spatial resolution (<1 mm) single-slice images be obtained excellent temporal (<1 s). Complete three-dimensional lungs 1 mm slice thickness can within reasonable breath-hold intervals (<20 s). article provides an overview current met...