학술논문
Design of a Four-Channel Surface Receiver Coil Array Without Preamplifiers for the Decoupling Between Elements: Validation for High-Resolution Rat Knee MR Imaging
Document Type
Periodical
Author
Source
IEEE Sensors Journal IEEE Sensors J. Sensors Journal, IEEE. 13(6):2450-2458 Jun, 2013
Subject
Language
ISSN
1530-437X
1558-1748
2379-9153
1558-1748
2379-9153
Abstract
In magnetic resonance imaging, multichannel coil arrays are increasingly being used to improve signal-to-noise ratio in order to increase spatial and/or temporal image resolution. A recent decoupling technique allows conception of two-channel surface transceiver coil arrays. This technique, based on a common conductor, does not require an additional preamplifier for the decoupling between elements. In this case, the coil array loops are directly connected to the independent transmit/receive switches and preamplifiers of the MR system. Using this common conductor decoupling technique, a topology of a four-channel coil array is developed and described in this paper. A four-channel surface receiver coil array is designed to perform the simultaneous acquisition of both rat knee joints at 7 T. Without the use of additional preamplifiers, a good decoupling between channels is obtained and very high spatial resolution 3-D images with a voxel size of $49\times 49\times 98~\mu{\rm m}^{3}$ is achieved in 1 h 22 min scan time. Acquisitions allow the quantification of cartilage morphological parameters such as thickness and volume.