Journal Article Ppublish
PubMed: 39887456 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.30450
Simultaneous whole-brain and cervical spine imaging at 7 T using a neurovascular head and neck coil with 8-channel transceiver array and 56-channel receiver array.
Magn Reson Med 94(1):386-400
Authors: Divya Baskaran, Belinda Ding, Son Chu, Paul McElhinney, Sarah Allwood-Spiers, Sydney N Williams, Keith Muir, Natasha Eileen Fullerton, David Andrew Porter, Shajan Gunamony
Affiliations
- Imaging Centre of Excellence, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
- Siemens Healthcare Ltd, Camberley, UK.
- MR CoilTech Limited, Glasgow, UK.
- MRI Physics, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, UK.
- Department of Neuroradiology, Institute of Neuroscience, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
PURPOSE
To develop a 7T neurovascular head and neck (NVHN) coil with an extended longitudinal coverage of the brain and cervical spine, with eight transceiver (TxRx) channels and 56 receive (Rx) channels for dynamic parallel-transmit (pTx) applications.
METHODS
A dual-row transceiver array with six elements in the upper row and two elements in the lower row was designed using combined electromagnetic and circuit optimization and constructed. A 56Rx array covering the brain and cervical spine was designed and combined with the transceiver array. The performance of the 8TxRx56Rx NVHN coil such as , signal-to-noise ratio, and g-factor were validated in phantom and in vivo studies and compared with an in-house 8Tx64Rx head coil. High-resolution in vivo images were acquired with the NVHN and head coil.
RESULTS
The average in phantom while exciting the upper six channels and all eight channels are 43.45 nT/V and 45.80 nT/V, respectively, demonstrating that the available field is seamlessly distributed in the brain and/or cervical spine, depending on the chosen excitation. The 8TxRx56Rx NVHN coil increases the SNR in the cervical spine and central brain by a factor of 2.18 and 1.16, respectively, compared with the 8Tx64Rx head coil. Furthermore, it demonstrates similar 1/g-factor performance for acceleration factors up to 5 × 5 compared with the head coil and provides diagnostic-quality images of the brain and spinal cord in a single acquisition.
CONCLUSION
The extended longitudinal coverage of the NVHN coil promises to improve the clinical application of the current generation of pTx 7T MRI systems with 8Tx channels.
MeSH
Brain, Spine, Cervical Vertebrae