Abstract
Hyperpolarized 13C Magnetic Resonance (MR) is a promising technique for in vivo non-invasive assessment of metabolism in humans. Despite the considerable signal increase provided by hyperpolarization techniques, the low molar concentration of derivate 13C metabolites gives rise to technological limits in terms of data quality. The development of dedicated radio frequency coils, capable of providing a large field of view with high signal-to-noise ratio data, is thus a fundamental task. This work describes the design, simulation, and test of a surface and a volume coil, both designed to be integrated with a clinical scanner for hyperpolarized 13C studies in small animal models, with the purpose to provide a detailed characterization and comparison of their performance. In particular, coil inductance was evaluated with analytical calculation, while the magnetostatic theory was employed for coils magnetic field pattern estimation. Workbench tests permitted us to characterize coil performance in terms of quality factor and efficiency. Additionally, this Tutorial summarizes the acquisition experience for the reconstruction of 13C spectroscopic maps in phantom using the two designed coils and a 3T MR clinical scanner. We believe that this Tutorial could be interesting for graduate students and researchers in the field of magnetic resonance coil design and development, especially for 13C studies.
Highlights
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is among the most important diagnostic tools for the diagnosis of diseases and offers the most sensitive and non-invasive way of body imaging
The combination of a transmit and a receive radio frequency (RF) coil can be useful for applications with X-nuclei MR spectroscopy or at ultrahigh-field MRI, but the separation of the two functionalities has the advantage of individually optimizing the coil design for each function
This work provides details about the design, simulation, and test of two different RF coils, constituted by a solenoid and a circular coil, with both coils designed to be employed in Tx/Rx mode, for hyperpolarized studies on small animal models with a clinical 3 T scanner
Summary
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is among the most important diagnostic tools for the diagnosis of diseases and offers the most sensitive and non-invasive way of body imaging. The combination of a transmit and a receive RF coil can be useful for applications with X-nuclei MR spectroscopy or at ultrahigh-field MRI, but the separation of the two functionalities has the advantage of individually optimizing the coil design for each function Another issue to be evaluated is the dimension of the coil: a large coil will generate a more uniform magnetic field when compared to a smaller one; a smaller coil takes advantage of a better SNR than a bigger coil. Rcoil takes into account the losses within the coil conductors in dependence on the conductor geometry, Rsample represents the sample losses caused by RF currents, induced by the fluctuating magnetic field, and by electric fields in the sample, mainly generated by the coil capacitors, and Rextra includes radiative, tuning capacitors and soldering losses. The magnetic field homogeneity is another important parameter in the coil design, since the FOV depends on it.
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