Systems and methods for assessing pulmonary gas transfer using hyperpolarized 129XE MRI
AssigneeDuke University
InventorsBastiaan Driehuys, Gary Price Cofer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for assessing pulmonary gas exchange and/or alveolar-capillary barrier status include obtaining at least one MRI image and/or image data of 129Xe dissolved in the red blood cells (RBC) in the gas exchange regions of the lungs of a patient. The image is sufficiently sensitive to allow a clinician or image recognition program to assess at least one of pulmonary gas exchange, barrier thickness or barrier function based on the 129Xe MRI RBC image.
Claims26
A method for providing MRI data of pulmonary gas exchange and/or alveolar-capillary barrier status, comprising:
- transmitting an RF MRI excitation pulse sequence configured to excite dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe in a gas exchange region of a lung of a subject;
- obtaining MRI image data of dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe in a red blood cell (RBC) compartment in the gas exchange region of the lung of the subject based on the transmission of the RF MRI excitation pulse sequence;
- and
- generating at least one 3-D dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI image of the gas exchange region of the lung using the obtained dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI image data of the RBC compartment.
A method of providing pulmonary gas exchange information of a patient, comprising:
- electronically displaying a first 3-D MRI image of a gas exchange region of the lung of a human patient on a display, the image generated using hyperpolarized 129Xe dissolved phase image data of an RBC compartment of the patient using a single-breath hold delivery amount of 129Xe hyperpolarized gas;
- electronically displaying a different 3-D MRI image of the lung of the patient on the display using hyperpolarized 129Xe dissolved phase image data of a barrier compartment from the same breath hold delivery of the 129Xe hyperpolarized gas;
- and
- electronically displaying a third 3-D MRI image of the lung of the patient on the display using 129Xe gas phase image data from the same or a different 129Xe hyperpolarized gas breath-hold delivery.
A method of providing pulmonary gas exchange information using MRI lung images of a human patient, comprising:
- providing an electronic 3-D MRI image of a lung of a patient using dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe image signal of a barrier compartment from a single-breath hold delivery of 129Xe hyperpolarized gas;
- and
- providing an electronic 3-D MRI image of the lung of the patient using dissolved phase hyperpolarized 129Xe image signal of a RBC compartment from the same single-breath hold delivery of 129Xe hyperpolarized gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.