Simultaneous MRI of Hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe

P. BLÜMLER; R. H. ACOSTA; S. HAN; M. HEHN; R. GRAF; H.W. SPIESS

Openheim, Alemania

Congreso; International Workshop on Polarized He-3 beams and gas targets and their applications; 2002

3Helium and 129Xenon both possess nuclear spins, can be hyper-polarised and are used for clinical imaging of air spaces. The advantages of 3He are high-sensitivity and no physiological effects, while 129Xe provides extra chemical shift information and is lipophilic. The first images of a mixture of both gases in a hyper-polarised state are re­ported. The very different gyro­magnetic ratios easily allow double-resonance experiments and hence simultaneous excitation and detection. The setup, associ­ated problems and exemplary results on phantoms as well as on animal tissues are discussed together with possible clinical applica­tions.