Abstract #2163

A Portable Constant-Volume Ventilator for Rodent Hyperpolarized Gas MRI

Rohan S Virgincar^1,2, Jerry Dahlke², Scott H Robertson^2,3, Bastiaan Driehuys^1,2,3,4, and John Nouls^2,4

¹Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States, ²Center for In Vivo Microscopy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States, ³Medical Physics Graduate Program, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States, ⁴Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States

Hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe MRI is a powerful probe of lung ventilation, perfusion and gas-exchange. It can be used in both clinical and preclinical settings, where the latter enables rapid discovery of new applications and early testing of therapies in animal models. However, preclinical hyperpolarized gas MRI has been limited to a few expert sites, owing to the challenge of reliably delivering hyperpolarized gas to small animals. Here, we present a constant-volume ventilator that allows for high-resolution hyperpolarized gas imaging and spectroscopy during precisely controlled multi-breath acquisitions. The ventilator is compact, portable, and easy to duplicate and disseminate.

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