System and method for improved detection and assessment of changes in lung-tissue structure

摘要

A method and system is described for measuring the apparent diffusion coefficient of Xe129 in the lung as a means to detect and assess changes in lung-tissue structure such as those that occur in certain pulmonary diseases. The main steps of this process include: polarizing the Xe129 gas; introducing said gas into the lung; acquiring sets of Xe 129 M R signals with various diffusion sensitizations; calculating Xe 129 ADC values; and evaluating said ADC values by comparison of the values in a region of interest to those in different regions of the lung or to normative values.