History

Since the spring of 1996 the University of Virginia has been investigating the use of hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe and ³He as a means of developing new medical imaging technologies.

Studies performed at UVa have included imaging human lungs with both ³He and ¹²⁹Xe. This includes the first human lungs image in the world (see figure to the left) as well as animal studies using ¹²⁹Xe.