PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Neil J. Stewart
AU  - Graham Norquay
AU  - Helen Marshall
AU  - Jim M. Wild
TI  - Feasibility of high quality lung MRI with naturally-abundant hyperpolarised <sup>129</sup>Xe
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 1729
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/1729.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/1729.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Introduction: To date, imaging of pulmonary ventilation with the hyperpolarised (HP) noble gases 3He and 129Xe has required ∼200 mL of 3He or ∼500 mL of enriched Xe (86% 129Xe) to achieve sufficient image quality for clinical interpretation. However, these gases are expensive; $850 and $170 per litre of 3He and enriched Xe, respectively. Natural abundance (NA) Xe (26% 129Xe) presents an attractive, economical alternative ($30 per litre) for routine imaging.Objective: To highlight the potential of NA Xe gas as a cost-effective contrast agent for imaging pulmonary ventilation.Methods: MRI was performed at 1.5T on healthy normals and smokers. 129Xe gas was polarised to 20-30% with an in-house, regulatory-approved polariser (Norquay et al. JAP, 2013). Subjects inhaled 1L of NA Xe for a 15s breath-hold. An optimised 3D steady-state free-precession imaging sequence (Wild et al. JMR, 2006) was implemented in order to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and spatial resolution achieved.Results: All acquired image slices were of diagnostic quality, with SNRs of 23-30. The high SNR permitted identification of small ventilation defects in the lungs of healthy smokers (white arrows, Fig. 1).Conclusions: Optimisation of MRI pulse sequences and advances in polarisation technology can facilitate acquisition of images of pulmonary ventilation of diagnostic quality, using relatively inexpensive, readily-available NA Xe gas.