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Intravascular (catheter) NMR receiver probe: Preliminary design analysis and application to canine iliofemoral imaging
Author(s) -
Hurst Gregory C.,
Hua Jianmin,
Duerk Jeffrey L.,
Cohen Alan M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.1910240215
Subject(s) - imaging phantom , biomedical engineering , materials science , nuclear magnetic resonance , nuclear medicine , physics , medicine
This investigation explores the feasibility of a catheter‐based receiver probe for NMR study of arterial walls. Simulations and phantom experiments demonstrate the spatial response of several “inside‐out” probe coil designs, including loop, “birdcage,” “multipole,” “center return,” and opposed solenoids. For a target defined by an annulus in a plane perpendicular to B 0 , the opposed solenoid design provides substantially superior homogeneity to other designs considered. Canine iliofemoral artery images were acquired using a catheter probe in a whole‐body, 1.5‐T clinical imaging system. In situ (cadaver) images acquired with TE 70, TR 2400,2‐mm slice thickness, and 78 × 78‐μm in‐plane voxel size in 10‐min acquisition times show vessel wall structures identified as intima, internal elastic lamina, media, and adventitia. In vivo images from similar acquisition conditions are much more poorly resolved, presumably due to motion, despite the use of cardiac gating and gradient moment nulling, so the feasibility of obtaining high‐resolution in vivo MR images of the arterial wall remains in doubt. © 1992 Academic Press, Inc.