Scale Up of Hyperpolarized Xe Production

描述（由申请人提供）：超偏振氙气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可行的技术。事实证明，生产高质量的超极化氙气具有挑战性。三年前，我们在新罕布什尔大学（University of New Hampshire）的团队发现了一种有效的偏振方法，并开发了一种利用这种方法的装置，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产量的努力并没有取得成功。我们已经确定，激光加热气体导致偏振器的效率降低。我们已经发明了一种新的装置，可以从根本上消除这个障碍，使我们的偏光器的偏光氙气输出进一步扩大。我们建议实施这项新发明，并证明在我们现有的偏振片的偏振输出增加了二十倍。具有这种输出的偏光片，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）是美国第四大死因。超偏振氙气MRI提供了一种高度定量和实用的方法来测量肺部的功能参数并随时间跟踪它们，这将对这些患者有益，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。在这个提案中，领先的超偏振光氙气研究小组提出实施一项新技术，该技术可以将我们的偏振光机的产量再增加20倍或更多，从而实现每分钟生产1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.