And the tests used to diagnosis hepatitis and HIV are based on the body's immune system response to infection, so some results could have come back negative prematurely.
This, too, can be hyperpolarised but, unlike 3He, it can also be absorbed by blood, and can thus get into the rest of the body, an effect that may be useful for other types of diagnosis.
While there have been other patents awarded on treatment methods, Singer said, they require doctors to use a new method of diagnosis or a new method to measure some level in the body.