title: Hyperpolarized noble gases as contrast agents.
abstract: Hyperpolarized noble gases ((3)He and (129)Xe) can provide NMR signal enhancements of 10,000 to 100,000 times that of thermally polarized gases and have shown great potential for applications in lung magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by greatly enhancing the sensitivity and contrast. These gases obtain a highly polarized state by employing a spin exchange optical pumping technique. In this chapter, the underlying physics of spin exchange optical pumping for production of hyperpolarized noble gases is explained and the basic components and procedures for building a polarizer are described. The storage and delivery strategies of hyperpolarized gases for in vivo imaging are discussed. Many of the problems that are likely to be encountered in practical experiments and the corresponding detailed approaches to overcome them are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430071 Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. xzhou@lbl.gov
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D006371:Helium / Q000737:chemistry; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005741:Noble Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D014979:Xenon Isotopes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005741:Noble Gases; D014979:Xenon Isotopes; D006371:Helium