Oxygen-17 NMR method of determining the quantitative rate of blood flow and metabolic oxygen consumption in a human

An apparatus for determining the quantitative rate of blood flow in a human body portion of a living person via oxygen-17 NMR based upon inhalation by said living person inhalation by said living person of a gas containing a concentration of oxygen-17 different than the natural abundance concentration of oxygen-17 in air, said apparatus comprising:

• means for generating a static magnetic field of a selected magnitude around said living person;
• means for generating a resonant electromagnetic field of a selected frequency around said human body portion, the frequency of said resonant electromagnetic field and the magnitude of said static magnetic field being selected to cause magnetic resonance of H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion;
• means for receiving oxygen-17 NMR signals generated from said magnetic resonance of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion during inhalation by said living person of a gas containing an oxygen-17 concentration different from the natural abundance of oxygen-17 to cause the concentration of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion to change, said plurality of NMR signals being received at a plurality of different times;
• and
• means for generating a blood flow signal representative of the quantitative rate of blood flow through said human body portion based upon said plurality of said NMR signals.

A method of determining the quantitative rate of metabolic oxygen consumption in a human body portion of a living person via oxygen-17 NMR based upon inhalation by said living person of a gas containing a concentration of oxygen-17 different than the natural abundance concentration of oxygen-17 in air, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating a static magnetic field of a selected magnitude around said living person;
• (b) generating a resonant electromagnetic field of a selected frequency around said human body portion, the frequency of said resonant electromagnetic field and the magnitude of said static magnetic field being selected to cause magnetic resonance of H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion;
• (c) receiving an oxygen-17 NMR signal generated from said magnetic resonance of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion;
• (d) repeating said steps (b) and (c) during living by said living person of a gas containing an oxygen-17 concentration different from the natural abundance of oxygen-17 to cause the concentration of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion to change, the repetition of said steps (b) and (c) generating a plurality of NMR signals at a plurality of different times;
• and
• (e) based upon said plurality of said NMR signals, generating an oxygen consumption signal representative of the quantitative rate of metabolic oxygen consumption in said human body portion.

An apparatus for determining the quantitative rate of metabolic oxygen consumption in a human body portion of a living person via oxygen-17 NMR based upon inhalation by said living person of a gas containing a concentration of oxygen-17 different than the natural abundance concentration of oxygen-17 in air, said apparatus comprising the steps of:

• means for generating a static magnetic field of a selected magnitude around said living person;
• means for generating a resonant electromagnetic field of a selected frequency around said human body portion, the frequency of said resonant electromagnetic field and the magnitude of said static magnetic field being selected to cause magnetic resonance of H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion;
• means for receiving oxygen-17 NMR signals generated from said magnetic resonance of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion, said oxygen-17 NMR signals being received during inhalation by said living person of a gas containing an oxygen-17 concentration different from the natural abundance of oxygen-17 to cause the concentration of said H.sub.2.sup.17 O in said human body portion to change, said plurality of NMR signals being received at a plurality of different times;
• and
• means for generating an oxygen consumption signal representative of the quantitative rate of metabolic oxygen consumption in said human body portion based upon said plurality of said NMR signals.