Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of airways in humans with use of hyperpolarized <sup>3</sup>He

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The nuclear spin polarization of noble gases can be enhanced strongly by laser optical pumping followed by electron‐nuclear polarization transfer. Direct optical pumping of metastable <jats:sup>3</jats:sup>He atoms has been shown to produce enormous polarization on the order of 0.4–0.6. This is about 10<jats:sup>5</jats:sup> times larger than the polarization of water protons at thermal equilibrium used in conventional MRI. We demonstrate that hyper‐polarized <jats:sup>3</jats:sup>He gas can be applied to nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of organs with air‐filled spaces in humans. <jats:italic>In vivo</jats:italic> <jats:sup>3</jats:sup>He MR experiments were performed in a whole‐body MR scanner with a superconducting magnet ramped down to 0.8 T. Anatomical details of the upper respiratory tract and of the lungs of a volunteer were visualized with the FLASH technique demonstrating the potential of the method for fast imaging of airways in the human body and for pulmonary ventilation studies.</jats:p>

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