32-channel 3 Tesla receive-only phased-array head coil with soccer-ball element geometry. |
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Authors: | G C Wiggins C Triantafyllou A Potthast A Reykowski M Nittka L L Wald |
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Affiliation: | Department of Radiology, A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA. gwiggins@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu |
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Abstract: | A 32-channel 3T receive-only phased-array head coil was developed for human brain imaging. The helmet-shaped array was designed to closely fit the head with individual overlapping circular elements arranged in patterns of hexagonal and pentagonal symmetry similar to that of a soccer ball. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise amplification (g-factor) in accelerated imaging applications were quantitatively evaluated in phantom and human images and compared with commercially available head coils. The 32-channel coil showed SNR gains of up to 3.5-fold in the cortex and 1.4-fold in the corpus callosum compared to a (larger) commercial eight-channel head coil. The experimentally measured g-factor performance of the helmet array showed significant improvement compared to the eight-channel array (peak g-factor 59% and 26% of the eight-channel values for four- and fivefold acceleration). The performance of the arrays is demonstrated in high-resolution and highly accelerated brain images. |
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Keywords: | phased array 32‐channel RF coil design SNR g‐factor |
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