A standardized MRI Phantom for Quantitative Functional Imaging of the Lung Parenchyma in Health and Disease

Motivation: Pulmonary MRI with dissolved phase hyperpolarized xenon-129 (hp129Xe) holds significant diagnostic potential for the clinical assessment of gas exchange. However, a universal phantom standard is currently missing to facilitate better quantitative data comparison between various sites. Goal(s): Develop a phantom standard that emulates hp129Xe signals in human lungs Approach: Identify and quantitatively describe suitable materials that dissolve xenon, mimic gas uptake, and reproduce hp129Xe chemical shift in lungs. Build a phantom and obtain signal ratios with clinical MRI protocols. Results: Materials were identified that reproduced spectral signatures and signal ratios comparable to those in human lungs in health and disease. Impact: The current phantom enables cost-effective training, easy setup, and rapid testing of experimental protocols without regulatory approval and governance. The introduced concept shows a pathway for developing a quantitative universal phantom standard for dissolved phase hp129Xe MRI