7T transmit/receive arrays using ICE decoupling for human head MR imaging

IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2014 Sep;33(9):1781-7. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2014.2313879. Epub 2014 Apr 1.

Abstract

In designing large-sized volume type phased array coils for human head imaging at ultrahigh fields, e.g., 7T, minimizing electromagnetic coupling among array elements is technically challenging. A new decoupling method based on induced current compensation or elimination (ICE) for a microstrip line planar array has recently been proposed. In this study, an eight-channel transmit/receive volume array with ICE-decoupled loop elements was built and investigated to demonstrate its feasibility and robustness for human head imaging at 7T. Isolation between adjacent loop elements was better than - 25 dB with a human head load. The worst-case of the isolation between all of the elements was about - 17.5 dB. All of the MRI experiments were performed on a 7T whole-body human MR scanner. Images of the phantom and human head were acquired and g-factor maps were measured and calculated to evaluate the performance of the coil array. Compared with the conventional capacitively decoupled array, the ICE-decoupled array demonstrated improved parallel imaging ability and had a higher SNR. The experimental results indicate that the transceiver array design with ICE decoupling technique might be a promising solution to designing high performance transmit/receive coil arrays for human head imaging at ultrahigh fields.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Equipment Design
  • Head / anatomy & histology*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / instrumentation*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Phantoms, Imaging