title: Quadrature coil design for high-resolution carotid artery imaging scores better than a dual phased-array coil design with the same volume coverage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the ability of a custom-built coil design to provide improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and less signal drop with increasing depth at the carotid artery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Phased-array surface coils can provide a high SNR to image the carotid vessel wall. However, given the required field-of-view (FOV) and penetration depth, these coils show either a fast signal drop with increasing depth or a moderate SNR at increased coil size. A quadrature surface coil (a butterfly coil in conjunction with a linear single-loop coil) was compared with a phased-array coil in phantom and human studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The phantom studies showed that the quadrature coil has better SNR over the required FOV than a standard phased-array coil (26% at 3 cm depth).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quadrature coil enables better image quality to be achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Erasmus Medical Centre, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ouhlous
authors.forename: Adriaan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moelker
authors.forename: Herman J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Flick
authors.forename: Piotr A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Wielopolski
authors.forename: Thomas T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: de Weert
authors.forename: Peter M T
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Pattynama
authors.forename: Aad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Lugt
mesh_terms: D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging