Hybrid phased array for improved internal auditory canal imaging at 3.0-T MR.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate a hybrid phased array for internal auditory canal (IAC) imaging at 3.0 T.


METHODS
A hybrid phased array was designed and built as two circular surface receive-only coils combined with a volume transmit-receive birdcage head coil for simultaneous image acquisition. Phantom and volunteer images were obtained to assess the coil performance.


RESULTS
The phantom data show that significant signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement was achieved in the region corresponding to the inner ear, i.e., by a factor of 2.5 compared to the standard head coil data. Volunteer IAC image quality was deemed superior as compared to images acquired at 3.0 T using a standard head coil.


CONCLUSIONS
This hybrid array combined with three-dimensional fast spin-echo (FSE) acquisition resulted in improved high spatial resolution IAC imaging.
Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. kocharian.armen@mayo.edu
Armen
A
Kocharian
John I
JI
Lane
Matt A
MA
Bernstein
Chen
C
Lin
Robert J
RJ
Witte
John
J
Huston
Joel P
JP
Felmlee
D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging