Healthy reference distributions for 129Xe gas exchange MRI with consideration of sex and hemoglobin

129Xe gas exchange MRI is commonly quantified by binning images of ventilation, membrane uptake (M/gas), and red blood cell transfer (RBC/gas) according to thresholds established using healthy reference distributions. To date, reference values have been based on small samples and do not account for hemoglobin concentration (Hb), which is known to vary by sex. We apply a Hb correction to data from 15 young, healthy volunteers (age=25.2±3.3 yrs., 6 female). After correction, there was no significant difference in individual mean M/gas and RBC/gas between males and females. The resulting reference distributions have less dispersion and skew than previously established distributions.