Design of a SENSE-optimized high-sensitivity MRI receive coil for brain imaging.
An 8-channel receive-only detector array was developed for SENSE MRI of human brain. The coil geometry was based on a gapped element design and used ultra-high impedance preamplifiers for mutual decoupling of the elements. Computer simulations of the electric and magnetic fields showed that excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and SENSE performance could be achieved by placing the coil elements close to the head and maintaining a substantial gap between the elements. Measurements with a 1.5 T prototype coil showed a 2.7-fold improvement of the SNR averaged over the brain compared to a conventional quadrature birdcage receive coil and an average geometrical noise amplification factor (g-value) of 1.06 and 1.38 for rate-2 and rate-3 SENSE, respectively.
Advanced MRI, Laboratory of Functional and Molecular Imaging, NINDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1065, USA.
Jacco A
JA
de Zwart
Patrick J
PJ
Ledden
Peter
P
Kellman
Peter
P
van Gelderen
Jeff H
JH
Duyn
D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods