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Hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using Dixon‐based decomposition enables single‐breath imaging of ¹²⁹Xe in the airspaces, interstitial barrier tissues, and red blood cells (RBCs). However, methods to quantitatively visualize information from these images of pulmonary gas transfer are lacking. Here, we introduce a novel method to transform these data into quantitative maps of pulmonary ventilation, and ¹²⁹Xe gas transfer to barrier and RBC compartments.

A total of 13 healthy subjects and 12 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) subjects underwent thoracic ¹H MRI and hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe MRI with one‐point Dixon decomposition to obtain images of ¹²⁹Xe in airspaces, barrier and red blood cells (RBCs). ¹²⁹Xe images were processed into quantitative binning maps of all three compartments using thresholds based on the mean and standard deviations of …