Patent ID: 9554726
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01N,G01R

Claim:
1. A method for providing a hyperpolarized liquid contrast agent for use in a magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) device, in particular for administration to a living being in the MRT device, comprising the following steps: passing said liquid contrast agent through a conduit extending along a longitudinal axis of a microwave (MW) resonator arranged in a magnetic field of said MRT device, coupling of a microwave of at least 40 GHz at an adjustable power into said MW resonator that is suitable for polarizing said liquid contrast agent upon its passage through said conduit in said MW resonator using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), wherein said contrast agent, at least at times, is polarized in said MW resonator during a continuous passage through the MW resonator at a flow velocity at least 1 mm/s and no more than 1 m/s, and administered immediately to said living being, wherein in said MW resonator, a microwave (MW) mode is formed, which along all or most of said longitudinal axis of said MW resonator has an antinode in the MW mode magnetic field strength and a node in the MW mode electric field strength, and wherein the adjustable power of the introduced microwave and the coupling of said microwave into said MW resonator are adjusted for the MW mode magnetic field strength to be at least 1·10