Development of New MRI Pulse Sequences for Probing Lung Function in Volunteers With Hyperpolarised 3He Gas

Development of New MRI Pulse Sequences for Probing Lung Function in Volunteers With Hyperpolarised 3He Gas

To develop techniques with MRI of Helium-3 gas to give functional images of the lungs. The goal is to test a single breath-hold functional 3-He MRI pulse sequence with sensitivity to multiple functional aspects of the luncg physiology. A group of 20 healthy volunteers willbe recruited from the local research group and the results compared with existing methods that require seperate breath-holds of 3He gas

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 18 -70

Exclusion Criteria:

• contraindication to MRI
• Resting oxygen saturation <95%
• Volunteers requiring bronchodilators less than 4 hourly
• additional respiratory diagnoses
• pregnancy