Methods for imaging pulmonary and cardiac vasculature and evaluating blood flow using dissolved polarized 129Xe

A method for evaluating blood flow, blood flow path and/or vasculature of a patient, comprising the steps of:

• delivering gaseous polarized 129Xe to the subject such that a portion of the gaseous polarized 129Xe enters into the pulmonary vasculature and into an associated blood flow path of the patient;
• exciting the polarized 129Xe in the blood flow path with at least one NMR spectroscopy RF excitation pulse;
• obtaining a first NMR spectroscopy response signal of the polarized 129Xe taken up in the vasculature and/or blood flow path based on said exciting step;
• obtaining a second NMR response signal of the polarized 129Xe take up in the vasculature and/or blood flow path based on said exciting step temporally spaced apart a selected time interval from said first obtaining step;
• and
• evaluating the patient using data from the first and second NMR response spectroscopic signals of said obtaining steps to assess the blood flow, blood flow path, and/or vasculature of the patient.

A method for assessing the presence or absence of abnormalities in the vasculature, blood flow, or blood flow path of a subject, comprising the steps of:

• administering gaseous polarized 129Xe to a subject in vivo such that the gaseous polarized 129Xe enters the subject's lungs and is taken up into the subject's vasculature and then into the blood stream;
• obtaining a plurality of NMR spectroscopic polarized dissolved 129Xe spectroscopic response signals, each response signal having an associated intensity curve, slope, and signal strength associated therewith;
• and
• evaluating data associated with the NMR response signal uptake curve, signal strength, and/or intensity provided by the spectroscopic response signal associated with the dissolved polarized 129Xe in blood to determine anomalies in the vasculature, blood flow, and/or blood flow path of the subject based on said obtaining step.