An Asymmetric Birdcage Coil for Small-animal MR Imaging at 7T.

The birdcage (BC) coil is currently being utilized for uniform radiofrequency (RF) transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) or Tx-only configuration in many magnetic resonance (MR) imaging applications, but insufficient magnetic flux (|B1|) density and their non-uniform distribution still exists in high-field (HF) environments. We demonstrate that the asymmetric birdcage (ABC) transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) volume coil, which is a modified standard birdcage (SBC) coil with the end ring split into two halves, is suitable for improving the |B1| sensitivity in 7T small-animal MR imaging. Cylindrical SBC and ABC coils with 35 mm diameter were constructed and bench tested for mouse body MR imaging at 300 MHz using a 7T scanner. To assess the ABC coil performance, computational electromagnetic (EM) simulation and 7T MR experiment were performed by using a cylindrical phantom and in vivo mouse body and quantitatively compared with the SBC coil in terms of |B1| distribution, RF transmit (|B1+|) field, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The bench measurements of the two BC coils are similar, yielding a quality value (Q-value) of 74.42 for the SBC coil and 77.06 for the ABC coil. The computational calculation results clearly show that the proposed ABC coil offers superior |B1| field and |B1+| field sensitivity in the central axial slice compared with the SBC coil. There was also high SNR and uniformly distributed flip angle (FA) under the loaded condition of mouse body in the 7T experiment. Although ABC geometry allows a further increase in the |B1| field and |B1+| field sensitivity in only the central axial slice, the geometrical modification of the SBC coil can make a high performance RF coil feasible in the central axial slice and also make target imaging possible in the diagonal direction.

Multi-port-driven birdcage coil for multiple-mouse MR imaging at 7 T.

In ultra-high field (UHF) imaging environments, it has been demonstrated that multiple-mouse magnetic resonance imaging (MM-MRI) is dependent on key factors such as the radiofrequency (RF) coil hardware, imaging protocol, and experimental setup for obtaining high-resolution MR images. A key aspect is the RF coil, and a number of MM-MRI studies have investigated the application of single-channel RF transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) coils or multi-channel phased array (PA) coil configurations under a single gradient coil set. However, despite applying a variety of RF coils, Tx (|B1+ |)-field inhomogeneity still remains a major problem due to the relative shortening of the effective RF wavelength in the UHF environment. To address this issue, we propose a relatively smaller size of individual Tx-only coils in a multiple birdcage (MBC) coil for MM-MRI to image up to three mice. We use electromagnetic (EM) simulations in the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) environment to obtain the |B1 |-field distribution. Our results clearly show that the single birdcage (SBC) high-pass filter (HPF) configuration, which is referred to as the SBCHPF , under the absence of an RF shield exhibits a high |B1 |-field intensity in comparison with other coil configurations such as the low-pass filter (LPF) and band-pass filter (BPF) configurations. In a 7-T MRI experiment, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) map of the SBCHPF configuration shows the highest coil performance compared to other coil configurations. The MBCHPF coil, which is comprised of a triple-SBCHPF configuration combined with additional decoupling techniques, is developed for simultaneous image acquisition of three mice. SCANNING 38:747-756, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of double-layer coupled coil for improving S/N in 7 T small-animal MRI.

The purpose of this study was to develop a new double-layer coupled (DLC) surface radiofrequency (RF) coil using a combination of single-layer planar (SLP) and single-layer circular (SLC) coils, for enhancement of magnetic flux (B1 ) sensitivity and RF penetration in 7 T rat-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The proposed DLC surface coil was fabricated according to an electromagnetic (EM) simulation and validated based on the B1 distribution and bench measurements. The DLC coil performance was quantitatively evaluated based on the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and coil-response signal intensity curves in phantom and in vivo rat-body images. In the computational EM calculation and 7 T in vivo experimental results, the DLC surface coil clearly showed an increased S/N and higher RF transmit (B1 (+) ) profiles, compared to those of the SLP and SLC coils. While all surface coils displayed a rapid decrease in the MR signal from the near-coil region to the subject, the results reveal that the DLC coil concept may be used to provide sufficient RF penetration and high S/N and degrees of freedom for use in partial body imaging for 7 T ultra-high-field small-animal MRI.