Yulin Chang1, Jaime F. Mata1,
Talissa Altes1, John P. Mugler III1, Kai Ruppert1
1Radiology, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA, United States
Hyperpolarized
xenon-129 dissolves into lung tissue and binds hemoglobin and the
dissolved-phase (DP) xenon molecules exchange with the gas-phase molecules
via diffusion. Therefore the initial rate of the signal replenishment of the
DP xenon following a saturation is proportional to both square root of time
and lung surface area. In this work we demonstrate the possibility of measuring
lung surface-to-volume ratio using DP xenon signals at short delays after a
complete saturation in a rabbit model.