Scientists have found a way to capture images of people's lungs, a scientific breakthrough that could revolutionise asthma treatment.
A team at the University of Queensland has developed hyperpolarised helium gas for use in human MRIs -- in fact, it has produced sufficient gas for a person to inhale and created an image of the person's airways.
Lead scientist Dr Marlies Friese said, "The gas is helium-3, it is inert, is not radioactive and does not react with the body so it is safe to inhale. This type of image is useful because we can obtain data on gas flow and breathing."
"It can show how gases flow in the lung, and whether regions of the lung are ventilated normally, abnormally or not at all. Now we are able to use our locally produced gas, the technology will become more accessible to local researchers and for research of diseases such as asthma," he said.
According to the scientists, when imaging the lung or other areas where the water content was low, conventional MRI had proved inadequate.
"Hyperpolarised helium MRI uses a special technique through which the nuclear magnetic moments of helium atoms are aligned so that MRI signals are enhanced by up to six orders of magnitude. The hyperpolarised effect is relatively short lived, it lasts up to 80 hours depending on how the gas is stored and transported, with the effectiveness decreasing during that time," Dr Friese said.