title: Evaluation of multicoil breast arrays for parallel imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate three multicoil breast arrays for both conventional and SENSE-accelerated imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two commercially available 8-element coils and a prototype 16-element coil were compared. One 8-element array had adjustable coils located next to the breast tissue and the other had a fixed coil arrangement; both were designed to allow parallel imaging in the left-right direction. The 16-element coil was designed to have coil sensitivity variation in both the left-right and superior-inferior directions, and also had adjustable coils. Their performance was assessed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), g-factor, and uniformity with a custom-built phantom.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 16-element array with adjustable coils provided the highest SNR, while the 8-element coil with a fixed coil arrangement had the best uniformity. All coils performed well for SENSE acceleration in the left-right direction. The 8-element coils did not have the capability for acceleration in the superior-inferior direction across the whole volume. The 16-element coil enabled acceleration in the superior-inferior direction in addition to the left-right direction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Smaller, adjustable coil elements located next to breast tissue can provide greater SNR than larger, fixed coil elements. A multicoil breast array with high intrinsic SNR and low g-factors enables high-quality parallel imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada. helen.marshall@sri.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Devine
authors.forename: Nishanthan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shanmugaratnam
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fobel
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siegler
authors.forename: Cameron A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Piron
authors.forename: Donald B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Plewes
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers