title: Signal-to-noise ratio enhancement of intermolecular double-quantum coherence MR spectroscopy in inhomogeneous fields with phased array coils on a 3 Tesla whole-body scanner.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of intermolecular double-quantum coherence (iDQC) MRS on a 3 Tesla (T) whole-body scanner.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 32-channel phased array coil was used to acquire iDQC signal of a MRS phantom in the presence of large field inhomogeneity. The obtained individual spectra from the array elements were combined together in the time domain using a multichannel nonparametric singular value decomposition algorithm. The results were compared quantitatively with those acquired with a circularly polarized (CP) head coil.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The achieved gain in SNR ranges from 1.63 to 2.10 relative to the CP coil, mainly depending on the relative position between the surface of the phased array coil and the voxel of acquisition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SNR enhancement of iDQC MRS in inhomogeneous fields on a 3T whole-body scanner is feasible with phased array coils. This can facilitate iDQC applications of high-resolution in vivo spectroscopy in the presence of field inhomogeneity for potential disease diagnosis in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging Sciences and Rochester Center for Brain Imaging, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Yanqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jianhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D011789:Quantum Theory; D051598:Whole Body Imaging