Bachert P, Schad L R, Bock M, Knopp M V, Ebert M, Grossmann T, Heil W, Hofmann D, Surkau R, Otten E W
Forschungsschwerpunkt Radiologische Diagnostik und Therapie, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany.
Magn Reson Med. 1996 Aug;36(2):192-6. doi: 10.1002/mrm.1910360204.
The nuclear spin polarization of noble gases can be enhanced strongly by laser optical pumping followed by electron-nuclear polarization transfer. Direct optical pumping of metastable 3He atoms has been shown to produce enormous polarization on the order of 0.4-0.6. This is about 10(5) times larger than the polarization of water protons at thermal equilibrium used in conventional MRI. We demonstrate that hyperpolarized 3He gas can be applied to nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of organs with air-filled spaces in humans. In vivo 3He MR experiments were performed in a whole-body MR scanner with a superconducting magnet ramped down to 0.8 T. Anatomical details of the upper respiratory tract and of the lungs of a volunteer were visualized with the FLASH technique demonstrating the potential of the method for fast imaging of airways in the human body and for pulmonary ventilation studies.
通过激光光泵浦随后进行电子-核极化转移，可以强烈增强稀有气体的核自旋极化。已证明对亚稳态³He原子进行直接光泵浦可产生约0.4 - 0.6量级的巨大极化。这比传统磁共振成像中热平衡状态下水质子的极化大约大10⁵倍。我们证明了超极化³He气体可应用于人体中具有空气填充空间的器官的核磁共振成像。在一台超导磁体降至0.8 T的全身磁共振扫描仪中进行了体内³He磁共振实验。使用快速低角度激发（FLASH）技术可视化了一名志愿者上呼吸道和肺部的解剖细节，证明了该方法在人体气道快速成像和肺通气研究方面的潜力。
