title: MR imaging of the lungs with hyperpolarized helium-3 gas transported by air.
abstract: Hyperpolarized noble gas MRI shows promise in the functional imaging of the pulmonary air spaces. The production of hyperpolarized (HP) gas requires specialized laser optical pumping apparatus, which is not likely to be home built in the majority of clinical MRI radiology centres. There are two routes through which HP gas will be made available to hospitals for clinical use: either the apparatus will be installed locally at a considerable expense to the centre, or a central facility will produce the gas and then deliver it to remote MRI sites as and when required. In this study, the feasibility of transporting large quantities of HP gas for in vivo MR imaging from a remote production facility in Mainz, Germany, by airfreight to Sheffield, UK, was successfully demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Radiology, University of Sheffield, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, UK. j.m.wild@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmiedeskamp
authors.forename: M N J
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Paley
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Filbir
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fichele
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kasuboski
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Knitz
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Woodhouse
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Swift
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heil
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Mill
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otten
authors.forename: E J R
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: van Beek
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D000401:Aircraft; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006250:Hartnup Disease; D006371:Helium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D007554:Isotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D008168:Lung / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D007554:Isotopes; D006371:Helium