Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI has been used to characterize gas exchange in the lung by measuring xenon dissolved in the red blood cells and pulmonary barrier tissues. However, recent work identified a potential third component of the dissolved-phase spectrum, observed as a splitting of the barrier peak. We propose to explain the appearance of this peak using a signal model that considers the susceptibility differences at the air tissue interface of the alveoli. Integrating this model into whole lung HP 129Xe spectroscopy measures in 8 healthy subjects and 16 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, we find improved correlations between the RBC-to-barrier ratio and DLCO %predicted compared to conventional modeling of the dissolved-phase spectrum.
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