title: Radiofrequency field enhancement with high dielectric constant (HDC) pads in a receive array coil at 3.0T.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the use of a new high-dielectric constant (HDC) material for improving SNR and transmission efficiency for clinical MRI applications at 3 Tesla (T) with cervical spine imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Human subjects were imaged using a commercial cervical spine receive array coil on a clinical system with and without pads containing Barium Titanate beads in deuterium water placed around the neck. Numerical electromagnetic field simulations of the same configuration were also performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experimental and simulated maps of transmit and receive fields showed greater efficiency for imaging the cervical spine when the pads were present. Experimental measurements showed a significant improvement in SNR with the pads present and an average input power reduction of 46%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Use of HDC material can enhance SNR and transmission efficiency for clinical imaging of the cervical spine at 3.0T.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. qyang@psu.edu
authors.forename: Qing X
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sica
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Herse
authors.forename: Jianli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vesek
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lanagan
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carluccio
authors.forename: Yeun-Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011846:Radio Waves; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers
keywords: B1 field; MRI; RF field; SAR; SNR; high permittivity