Paul L. Bogorad

Polarized noble gas MRI

The development of convenient methods to polarize liter quantities of the noble gases helium-3 and xenon-129 has provided the opportunity for a new MRI method to visualize the internal air spaces of the human lung. These spaces are usually poorly seen with hydrogen-based MRI, because of the limited water content of the lung and the low thermal polarization of the water protons achieved in conventional magnets. In addition, xenon, which has a relatively high solubility and a sufficiently persistent polarization level in blood and biological tissue, offers the prospect of providing perfusion images of the lung, brain and other organs.