Normal and abnormal pulmonary ventilation: Visualization at hyperpolarized He-3 MR imaging

To assess the feasibility of helium-3 magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with a three-dimensional fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence, He-3 gas (volume, 300 mt; pressure, 3 x 10(5) Pa; polarized up to 45% by means of optimal pumping) was inhaled by five healthy volunteers and five patients with pulmonary diseases. All breath-hold examinations (22 - 42 seconds) were completed successfully. Normal ventilation tvas depicted with homogeneous high signal intensity, lesions were depicted as causing defects, and obstructive lung disease was depicted with severely inhomogeneous signal intensity.