RECYCLE OF 3HE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION LUNG IMAGING

描述(申请人摘要逐字)：稀有气体同位素 核自旋极化是非常有吸引力的显像剂，因为它们具有很高的 核磁共振的检测灵敏度。特别是， 自旋极化的~3He能够对肺部和呼吸道进行快速的气体空间成像 临床诊断和生理学研究。不幸的是，有限的 3He的可用性严重限制了高分辨率肺成像的数量 可以进行的研究。我们建议开发一个系统来恢复和 回收稀有的氦同位素，这样高分辨率的肺部成像就可以 普通而且便宜。创新之处在于低温气体分离系统。 从患者呼出的气流中提取和提纯3He，并节省 它用于复极化和在其他患者中重复使用。在第一阶段，我们证明了 通过(1)进行概念验证来确定3He回收系统的可行性 试验证明了高效分离、提纯、 以及从呼出气体中消毒3He，以及(2)产生概念上的 设计了一套完整的~3He回收回收系统。在第二阶段，我们将 建立和示范一个完整的回收和再循环系统。 建议的商业应用： 不可用

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract verbatim): Noble gas isotopes that can be nuclear spin-polarized are very attractive imaging agents because of their high detection sensitivity for nuclear magnetic resonance. In particular, spin-polarized 3He enables fast, gas-space imaging of the lungs and airways for clinical diagnosis and physiological studies. Unfortunately, the limited availability of 3He severely limits the number of high-resolution lung imaging studies that can be performed. We propose to develop a system to recover and recycle the rare helium isotope so that high-resolution lung imaging can become common and inexpensive. The innovation is a cryogenic gas separation system that extracts and purifies the 3He from a patient's exhalation stream and saves it for re-polarization and reuse in other patients. In Phase I we proved the feasibility of the 3He recovery system by (1) performing a proof-of-concept test that demonstrates the feasibility of efficiently separating, purifying, and sterilizing the 3He from exhalation gases, and (2) producing a conceptual design of a complete system to recover and recycle 3He. In Phase II we will build and demonstrate a complete recovery and recycling system. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not Available