Septal wall thickness (SWT) measurements with hyperpolarized xenon-129 (HXe) MRI are typically conducted as spectroscopic acquisitions that lack spatial information. Recently, efforts have been made to obtain spatial maps of SWT. Here, we investigated differences in apparent lung physiology between peripheral and central lung regions and found an implausible change in observed capillary transit time and SWT from the periphery to the center of the lungs. This effect is likely caused by the transport of xenon-saturated blood towards the heart, and is not based on physiological differences, thus requiring a fundamental revision of analytical gas uptake models.
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