Two-dimensional sixteen channel transmit/receive coil array for cardiac MRI at 7.0 T: design, evaluation, and application.
OBJECTIVE
To design, evaluate, and apply a 2D 16-channel transmit/receive (TX/RX) coil array tailored for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7.0 T.


METHODS
The cardiac coil array consists of two sections each using eight elements arranged in a 2 × 4 array. Radiofrequency (RF) safety was validated by specific absorption rate (SAR) simulations. Cardiac imaging was performed using 2D CINE FLASH imaging, T 2 mapping, and fat-water separation imaging. The characteristics of the coil array were analyzed including parallel imaging performance, left ventricular chamber quantification, and overall image quality.


RESULTS
RF characteristics were found to be appropriate for all subjects included in the study. The SAR values derived from the simulations fall well within the limits of legal guidelines. The baseline signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) advantage at 7.0 T was put to use to acquire 2D CINE images of the heart with a very high spatial resolution of (1 × 1 × 4) mm(3) . The proposed coil array supports 1D acceleration factors of up to R = 4 without significantly impairing image quality.


CONCLUSIONS
The 16-channel TX/RX coil has the capability to acquire high contrast and high spatial resolution images of the heart at 7.0 T.
Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
Christof
C
Thalhammer
Wolfgang
W
Renz
Lukas
L
Winter
Fabian
F
Hezel
Jan
J
Rieger
Harald
H
Pfeiffer
Andreas
A
Graessl
Frank
F
Seifert
Werner
W
Hoffmann
Florian
F
von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff
Valeriy
V
Tkachenko
Jeanette
J
Schulz-Menger
Peter
P
Kellman
Thoralf
T
Niendorf
D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers