title: SENSE optimization of a transceive surface coil array for MRI at 4 T.
abstract: Parallel imaging (PI) techniques employ the use of multiple radiofrequency (RF) channels to transmit and/or receive the NMR signal. In the current study we use a finite difference time domain (FDTD) method to simulate the electromagnetic fields of a RF coil array operating in transmit-receive (transceive) mode and receive-only mode. Optimization of these configurations for PI is studied as well. Our results suggest that a coil array can effectively be used for transceive or receive-only PI techniques. For a head coil configuration, the sensitivity encoding (SENSE) optimized coil array gap size and PI acceleration factor for MRI are shown to be a function of the physiological-to-intrinsic-noise ratio (PhINR) with a much stronger dependence on acceleration factor than gap size. The results provide a means to optimize any PI sequence by varying the acceleration factor based on the measured PhINR. In addition, an example design for an eight-element transceive coil array for heads at 4 T is given.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Pinkerton
authors.forename: Graeme C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: McKinnon
authors.forename: Ravi S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Menon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers