Patent ID: 7867477

Claim:
An in vivo method for evaluating whether a subject has a respiratory disorder, or a cardiopulmonary disorder, comprising: delivering polarized 129 Xe in vivo to a subject such that the polarized 129 Xe travels across the alveolar-capillary membrane to be taken up in the blood across the membrane, the polarized gas in the blood having a polarized 129 Xe NMR chemical shift signal frequency; destroying the polarization of the polarized 129 Xe in the blood and the membrane; obtaining an NMR spectroscopic signal of the polarized gas in the subject over time at the blood and/or tissue resonant frequency to generate at least one dynamic data set to generate at least one NMR 129 Xe uptake curve at least one chemical shift frequency of interest of signal strength values over time; and evaluating the NMR derived dynamic data set to assess whether the subject has a respiratory or cardiopulmonary disorder.