Open AccessIntercomparison of performance of RF coil geometries for high field mouse cardiac MRI
Author(s) -
Constantinides Christakis,
Angeli S.,
Gkagkarellis S.,
Cofer G.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
concepts in magnetic resonance part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.229
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1552-5023
pISSN - 1546-6086
DOI - 10.1002/cmr.a.20225
Subject(s) - electromagnetic coil , imaging phantom , spiral (railway) , materials science , radiofrequency coil , biomedical engineering , turn (biochemistry) , nuclear magnetic resonance , acoustics , geometry , physics , optics , mathematics , mechanical engineering , engineering , quantum mechanics
Multiturn spiral surface coils are constructed in flat and cylindrical arrangements and used for high field (7.1 T) mouse cardiac MRI. Their electrical and imaging performances, based on experimental measurements, simulations, and MRI experiments in free space, and under phantom, and animal loading conditions, are compared with a commercially available birdcage coil. Results show that the four‐turn cylindrical spiral coil exhibits improved relative SNR (rSNR) performance to the flat coil counterpart, and compares fairly well with a commercially available birdcage coil. Phantom experiments indicate a 50% improvement in the SNR for penetration depths ≤6.1 mm from the coil surface compared to the birdcage coil, and an increased penetration depth at the half‐maximum field response of 8 mm in the four‐spiral cylindrical coil case, in contrast to 2.9 mm in the flat four‐turn spiral case. Quantitative comparison of the performance of the two spiral coil geometries in anterior, lateral, inferior, and septal regions of the murine heart yield maximum mean percentage rSNR increases of the orderof 27–167% in vivo postmortem (cylindrical compared to flat coil). The commercially available birdcage outperforms the cylindrical spiral coil in rSNR by a factor of 3–5 times. The comprehensive approach and methodology adopted to accurately design, simulate, implement, and test radiofrequency coils of any geometry and type, under any loading conditions, can be generalized for any application of high field mouse cardiac MRI. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 38: 236–252, 2011.