title: A 20-channel receive-only mouse array coil for a 3 T clinical MRI system.
abstract: A 20-channel phased-array coil for MRI of mice has been designed, constructed, and validated with bench measurements and high-resolution accelerated imaging. The technical challenges of designing a small, high density array have been overcome using individual small-diameter coil elements arranged on a cylinder in a hexagonal overlapping design with adjacent low impedance preamplifiers to further decouple the array elements. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise amplification in accelerated imaging were simulated and quantitatively evaluated in phantoms and in vivo mouse images. Comparison between the 20-channel mouse array and a length-matched quadrature driven small animal birdcage coil showed an SNR increase at the periphery and in the center of the phantom of 3- and 1.3-fold, respectively. Comparison with a shorter but SNR-optimized birdcage coil (aspect ratio 1:1 and only half mouse coverage) showed an SNR gain of twofold at the edge of the phantom and similar SNR in the center. G-factor measurements indicate that the coil is well suited to acquire highly accelerated images.
authors: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany. keil@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
authors: Boris
authors: B
authors: Keil
authors: Graham C
authors: GC
authors: Wiggins
authors: Christina
authors: C
authors: Triantafyllou
authors: Lawrence L
authors: LL
authors: Wald
authors: Florian M
authors: FM
authors: Meise
authors: Laura M
authors: LM
authors: Schreiber
authors: Klaus J
authors: KJ
authors: Klose
authors: Johannes T
authors: JT
authors: Heverhagen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000662:veterinary*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D051379:Mice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers / Q000662:veterinary*; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000662:veterinary*