Systems and methods for portable magnetic resonance measurements of lung properties

A portable magnetic resonance system configured to acquire magnetic resonance signals generated in a region-of-interest in a subject's lung and to calculate therefrom a quantitative metric indicative of a property of the subject's lung, comprising:

• a magnet sized to be positioned proximate to a subject and configured to generate a magnetic field that is substantially homogeneous in a region-of-interest positioned at a distance from a surface of the magnet that is sufficiently large so as to position the region-of-interest in the subject's lung;
• a radio frequency (RF) coil assembly including at least one RF coil sized to be positioned proximate to the region-of-interest and configured to apply an RF field to the region-of-interest and to receive magnetic resonance signals therefrom;
• a spectrometer system in communication with the RF coil assembly and programmed to:
• direct the RF coil assembly to produce an RF field in the region-of-interest at a Larmor frequency such that spins resonant with the Larmor frequency in the region-of-interest are excited;
• direct the RF coil assembly to receive magnetic resonance signals produced in the region-of-interest in response to the applied RF field;
• and
• compute from the acquired magnetic resonance signals a quantitative metric indicative of a characteristic of the subject's lung in the region-of-interest.