G Wilson Miller1,
John P. Mugler, III1, Talissa A. Altes1, Jaime F. Mata1,
Kai Ruppert1, Craig H. Meyer2, F. William Hersman3,
Iulian C. Ruset3
1Radiology
& Medical Imaging, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United
States; 2Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
VA, United States; 3Xemed LLC, Durham, NH, United States
It has long been argued that hyperpolarized-gas measurements of oxygen partial pressure (PO2) in the lung should be made using a true 3D acquisition with non-selective rf pulses. We present the first demonstration of a 3D pulse sequence capable of mapping PO2 in human subjects with sub-centimeter resolution, using a single short breath hold of hyperpolarized xenon-129. Repeated scans in each subject show that the quantitative measurements are highly repeatable.