Quantifying Pulmonary Gas Transport Efficiency using Hyperpolarized Xenon-129

Kai Ruppert¹, Jaime F. Mata¹, Isabel M. Dregely², Talissa A. Altes¹, G. Wilson Miller¹, Stephen Ketel³, Jeff Ketel³, Iulian C. Ruse^2,3, F. William Hersman^2,3, John P. Mugler III¹

Due to the large chemical shift difference between hyperpolarized Xe129 (HXe129) dissolved in lung tissue and in the alveolar air spaces it is feasible to image both compartments simultaneously, appearing side-by-side in the image, by using a suitable imaging bandwidth. The weighting of the dissolved-phase contrast can be shifted from exchange-site dominant to blood-pool dominant through an adjustment of the TR/FA combination of the acquisition. Thereby it is feasible to monitor and quantify the HXe129 gas transport processes throughout the pulmonary and cardiovascular system up to the aortic arch.