Scale Up of Hyperpolarized Xe Production

描述（由申请人提供）：超极化氙MRI已被证明在肺部功能成像中具有极高的灵敏度，可能是技术上最有前途和商业上最可行的技术。生产高质量的超极化氙已被证明具有挑战性。三年前，我们在新罕布什尔州大学的研究小组发现了一种有效的偏振方法，并开发了一种利用这种机制的设备，将偏振器的生产率提高了一个数量级以上。从那时起，我们通过增加激光功率来进一步提高输出的努力没有取得成功。我们已经确定激光加热气体会导致偏振器的效率较低。我们已经发明了一种新的设备，可以从根本上消除这种障碍，允许进一步扩大我们的偏振器的偏振氙输出。我们提出实施该新发明，并且证明偏振输出比我们现有的偏振器增加二十倍。具有这种输出的偏振器，大约每分钟一升，将能够满足实时肺功能成像协议的研究和临床要求。慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）是美国第四大死亡原因。超极化氙MRI提供了一种高度定量和实用的方法，用于测量肺部的功能参数并随时间跟踪它们，这将有利于这些患者，不仅作为个人诊断试剂，而且作为寻找安全有效的吸入治疗药物的工具。在这项提案中，领先的超极化氙研究小组提出实施新技术，可以将我们的偏振器的输出放大20倍或更多，实现每分钟生产升的目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hyperpolarized xenon MRI has been demonstrated to have exquisite sensitivity in functional imaging of lungs, likely the most technically promising and commercially viable technique. Production of high quality hyperpolarized xenon has proven challenging. Three years ago our group at the University of New Hampshire identified an efficient method for polarization and developed an apparatus to exploit this regime, advancing the productivity of polarizers by more than one order of magnitude. Since that time, our efforts to further increase output by increasing laser power have not met with success. We have determined that laser heating of the gas leads to lower efficiency of the polarizer. We have invented a new apparatus that could essentially eliminate this barrier, allowing further scaling up of the polarized xenon output of our polarizer. We propose to implement this new invention and demonstrate an increase in polarization output of a factor of twenty over our existing polarizer. A polarizer with this output, roughly one liter per minute, will be able to meet the research and clinical requirements of real-time pulmonary functional imaging protocols. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the US. Hyperpolarized xenon MRI offers a highly quantitative and practical method for measuring functional parameters of lungs and tracking them over time, which would be a benefit for these patients, not only as a personal diagnostic agent, but also as a tool in the search for safe and effective inhaled therapeutic pharmaceuticals. In this proposal, the leading hyperpolarized xenon research group proposes to implement new technology that can scale up the output of our polarizer by another factor of twenty or more, achieving the goal of liter-per-minute production.