Patent ID: 7179450

Claim:
An in vivo method for evaluating the physiological response of a subject to a therapeutic agent, comprising: delivering polarized 129 Xe gas in vivo to a subject; obtaining a first NMR spectroscopic signal of the polarized gas in the subject at at least one chemical shift frequency to generate a first dynamic data set of the NMR spectroscopic signal values over time, with the polarization of the 129 Xe being repetitively destroyed at predetermined delays in a compartment or compartments of interest, the dynamic data set being representative of the polarized gas in a physiologic structure, environment, or system of interest; administering a physiological active therapeutic agent to the subject; obtaining a second NMR spectroscopic signal of the polarized gas in the subject at the at least one chemical shift frequency to generate a second dynamic data set of the NMR spectroscopic signal values over time, with the polarization of the 129 Xe being repetitively destroyed at predetermined delays in a compartment or compartments of interest; and comparing the first and second dynamic data sets to evaluate the physiological response of the subject to the therapeutic agent.