Signal-to-noise Ratio Advantage Research Articles

Sequence comparison of spoiled gradient echo and balanced steady-state free precession for pulmonary free-breathing proton MRI in patients and healthy volunteers: Correspondence, repeatability, and validation with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.

Phase-resolved functional lung (PREFUL) MRI is a proton-based, contrast agent-free technique derived from the Fourier decomposition approach to measure regional ventilation and perfusion dynamics during free-breathing. Besides the necessity of extensive PREFUL postprocessing, the utilized MRI sequence must fulfill specific requirements. This study investigates the impact of sequence selection on PREFUL-MRI-derived functional parameters by comparing the standard spoiled gradient echo (SPGRE) sequence with a lung-optimized balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) sequence, thereby facilitating PREFULs clinical application in pulmonary disease assessment. This study comprised a prospective dataset of healthy volunteers and a retrospective dataset of patients with suspected chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Both cohorts underwent PREFUL-MRI with both sequences to assess the correspondence of PREFUL ventilation and perfusion parameters (A). Additionally, healthy subjects were scanned a second time to evaluate repeatability (B), whereas patients received dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI, considered the perfusion gold standard for comparison with PREFUL-MRI (C). Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), calculated from the unprocessed images, was compared alongside median differences of PREFUL-MRI-derived parameters using a paired Wilcoxon signed rank test. Further evaluations included calculation of the Pearson correlation, intraclass-correlation coefficient for repeatability assessment, and spatial overlap (SO) for regional comparison of PREFUL-MRI and DCE-MRI. bSSFP showed a clear SNR advantage over SPGRE (median: 23 vs. 9, p< 0.001). (A) Despite significant differences, parameter values were strongly correlated (r≥0.75). After thresholding, binary maps showed high healthy overlap across both cohorts (SOHealthy > 86%) and high defect overlap in the patient cohort (SODefect≥48%). (B) bSSFP demonstrated slightly higher repeatability across most parameters. (C) Both sequences demonstrated comparable correspondence to DCE-MRI, with SPGRE excelling in absolute quantification and bSSFP in spatial agreement. Although bSSFP showed superior SNR results, both sequences displayed spatial defect concordance and highly correlated PREFUL parameters with deviations regarding repeatability and alignment with DCE-MRI.

Analysis of signal-to-noise ratio of spatial heterodyne spectroscopy

We have established a novel spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (SHS) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) model, relating the spectral SNR to the spectral band and resolution, which helps guide the instrument's design and optimization and assess the spectral quality. The experimental and simulation results show that the spectral resolution affects the SNR differently under different noise types and spectral characteristics of the measured targets, which fully validates the novel SHS SNR model. Despite the disadvantage of multiplexing in SHS, we determine the SNR advantage of SHS over the grating spectroscopy (GS) through rigorous theoretical derivations. In 94.34 % of the polychromatic light detections, the average SNR of SHS is 2–31 times higher than that of GS. In emission spectra detections, the SNR gain of SHS relative to GS is up to 1–2 orders of magnitude. In additive noise domination, the SNR gain reaches 1–3 orders of magnitude.

Shot-noise limited optical hybrid based on fused fiber couplers

We describe a fiber-based coherent receiver topology which utilizes intrinsic phase shifts from fiber couplers to enable instantaneous quadrature projection with shot-noise limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Fused 3 × 3 fiber couplers generate three phase-shifted signals simultaneously that can be combined with quadrature projection methods to detect magnitude and phase unambiguously. We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, differential detection topology which utilizes a combination of 3 × 3 and 2 × 2 couplers to enable quadrature projection with fully differential detection. We present a mathematical analysis of this 3 × 3 differential detection topology, extended methods for signal calibration, and SNR analysis. We characterize the SNR advantage of this approach and demonstrate a sample application illustrating simultaneous magnitude and phase imaging of a chrome-on-glass test chart.

Time alignment quantum illumination based on single real-time coincidence counting

We propose and demonstrate an improved quantum illumination protocol based on the time correlation of twin photons, for the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of target detection and signal reconstruction in the strong noise environment. The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometer is applied after the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process to construct a probing twin-beam in which the photon times are precisely aligned between the beams. At the radar receiver, we put forward a single real-time coincidence counting (SRCC) method on a series of time slices to reconstruct the probe signals of pulse radar and calculate the SNR advantages against the conventional pulse radar, as well as the quantum illumination (QI) protocol. Our main achievements in this research are the realization of real-time detection of quantum information while acquiring a higher SNR than QI and classical illumination (CI) protocols, as well as its demonstration of strong robustness to noise and losses, which also proposes what we believe to be a novel way for quantum target detection.

Performance analysis of heterodyne confocal microscopy without a pinhole

The specific structure of heterodyne detection system confocal microscopy (HDSCM) is presented in this paper. The theoretical derivation reveals that, HDSCM has the same transverse and axial resolutions as direct detection system confocal microscopy (DDSCM). However, HDSCM has several advantages over DDSCM. First, HDSCM does not need the conjugate pinhole which is necessary in DDSCM, thereby avoiding the practical operation difficulties resulting from adjusting the pinhole position with sub-micron accuracy. Second, our calculations show that, for the case of clear optical pupil, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of HDSCM can be increased by at least tens of dBs higher than DDSCM, thereby allowing a high-quality imaging for these samples with extremely low reflectivity. Third, when using pupil filtering technology to achieve super-resolution in confocal microscopy (CM), HDSCM shows a great SNR advantage, thereby guaranteeing high resolution.

Capacitive versus Overlap Decoupling of Adjacent Radio Frequency Phased Array Coil Elements: An Imaging Robustness Comparison When Sample Load Varies for 3 Tesla MRI.

Phased array (PA) receive coils are built such that coil elements approximate independent antenna behavior. One method of achieving this goal is to use an available decoupling method to decouple adjacent coil elements. The purpose of this work was to compare the relative performance of two decoupling methods as a function of variation in sample load. Two PA receive coils with 5 channels (5-ch) each, equal outer dimensions, and formed on 12 cm diameter cylindrical phantoms of conductivities 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 S/m were evaluated for relative signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and parallel imaging performance. They were only tuned and matched to the 0.6 S/m phantom. Simulated and measured axial, sagittal, and coronal 5-ch PA coil SNR ratios were compared by dividing the overlap by the capacitive decoupled coil SNR results. Issues related to the selection of capacitor values for the two decoupling methods were evaluated by taking the ratio of the match and tune capacitors for large and small 2 channel (2-ch) PA coils. The SNR ratios showed that the SNR of the two decoupling methods were very similar. The inverse geometry-factor maps showed similar but better overall parallel imaging performance for the capacitive decoupled method. The quotients for the 2-ch PA coils’ maximum and minimum capacitor value ratios are 3.28 and 1.38 for the large and 3.28 and 2.22 for the small PA. The results of this paper demonstrate that as the sample load varies, the capacitive and overlap decoupling methods are very similar in relative SNR and this similarity continues for parallel imaging performance. Although, for the 5-ch coils studied, the capacitive decoupling method has a slight SNR and parallel imaging advantage and it was noted that the capacitive decoupled coil is more likely to encounter unbuildable PA coil configurations.

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy measurements of blood flow using 1064nm light.

.Significance: Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is an established optical modality that enables noninvasive measurements of blood flow in deep tissue by quantifying the temporal light intensity fluctuations generated by dynamic scattering of moving red blood cells. Compared with near-infrared spectroscopy, DCS is hampered by a limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to the need to use small detection apertures to preserve speckle contrast. However, DCS is a dynamic light scattering technique and does not rely on hemoglobin contrast; thus, there are significant SNR advantages to using longer wavelengths () for the DCS measurement due to a variety of biophysical and regulatory factors.Aim: We offer a quantitative assessment of the benefits and challenges of operating DCS at 1064 nm versus the typical 765 to 850 nm wavelength through simulations and experimental demonstrations.Approach: We evaluate the photon budget, depth sensitivity, and SNR for detecting blood flow changes using numerical simulations. We discuss continuous wave (CW) and time-domain (TD) DCS hardware considerations for 1064 nm operation. We report proof-of-concept measurements in tissue-like phantoms and healthy adult volunteers.Results: DCS at 1064 nm offers higher intrinsic sensitivity to deep tissue compared with DCS measurements at the typically used wavelength range (765 to 850 nm) due to increased photon counts and a slower autocorrelation decay. These advantages are explored using simulations and are demonstrated using phantom and in vivo measurements. We show the first high-speed (cardiac pulsation-resolved), high-SNR measurements at large source–detector separation (3 cm) for CW-DCS and late temporal gates (1 ns) for TD-DCS.Conclusions: DCS at 1064 nm offers a leap forward in the ability to monitor deep tissue blood flow and could be especially useful in increasing the reliability of cerebral blood flow monitoring in adults.

Evaluation of fluorine-19 magnetic resonance imaging of the lungs using octafluorocyclobutane in a rat model.

PurposeTo test octafluorocyclobutane (OFCB) as an inhalation contrast agent for fluorine‐19 MRI of the lung, and to compare the image quality of OFCB scans with perfluoropropane (PFP) scansTheory and MethodsAfter normalizing for the number of signal averages, a theoretical comparison between the OFCB signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) and PFP SNR predicted the average SNR advantage of 90% using OFCB during gradient echo imaging. The OFCB relaxometry was conducted using single‐voxel spectroscopy and spin‐echo imaging. A comparison of OFCB and PFP SNRs was performed in vitro and in vivo. Five healthy Sprague‐Dawley rats were imaged during single breath‐hold and continuous breathing using a Philips Achieva 3.0T MRI scanner (Philips, Andover, MA). The scan time was constant for both gases. Statistical comparison between PFP and OFCB scans was conducted using a paired t test and by calculating the Bayes factor.ResultsSpin‐lattice (T1) and effective spin‐spin (T2∗) relaxation time constants of the pure OFCB gas were determined as 28.5 ± 1.2 ms and 10.5 ± 1.8 ms, respectively. Mixing with 21% of oxygen decreased T1 by 30% and T2∗ by 20%. The OFCB in vivo images showed 73% higher normalized SNR on average compared with images acquired using PFP. The statistical significance was shown by both paired t test and calculated Bayes factors. The experimental results agree with theoretical calculations within the error of the relaxation parameter measurements.ConclusionThe quality of the lung images acquired using OFCB was significantly better compared with PFP scans. The OFCB images had higher a SNR and were artifact‐free.

In Vitro Intraductal MRI and T2 Mapping of Cholangiocarcinoma Using Catheter Coils.

AimDiagnostic imaging of early-stage cholangiocarcinoma is challenging. A previous in vitro study of fixed-tissue liver resection specimens investigated T2 mapping as a method of exploiting the locally increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of duodenoscope coils for improved quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), despite their non-uniform sensitivity. This work applies similar methods to unfixed liver specimens using catheter-based receivers.MethodsEx vivo intraductal MRI and T2 mapping were carried out at 3T on unfixed resection specimens obtained from cholangiocarcinoma patients immediately after surgery using a catheter coil based on a thin-film magneto-inductive waveguide, inserted directly into an intrahepatic duct.ResultsPolypoid intraductal cholangiocarcinoma was imaged using fast spin-echo sequences. High-resolution T2 maps were extracted by fitting of data obtained at different echo times to mono-exponential models, and disease-induced changes were correlated with histopathology. An increase in T2 was found compared with fixed specimens and differences in T2 allowed the resolution of tumour tissue and malignant features such as polypoid morphology.ConclusionDespite their limited field of view, useful data can be obtained using catheter coils, and T2 mapping offers an effective method of exploiting their local SNR advantage without the need for image correction.

Improving the Detection of Cholangiocarcinoma: In vitro MRI-Based Study Using Local Coils and T2 Mapping.

AimCholangiocarcinoma is endemic in southeast Asia, generally developing from liver fluke infestation. However, diagnostic imaging of early-stage disease is challenging. The aim of this work is to investigate relaxometry (specifically, T2 mapping) as a method of exploiting the higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of internal coils for improved reception of magnetic resonance signals, despite their non-uniform sensitivity.MethodsEx vivo T2 mapping was carried out at 3T on fixed resection specimens from Thai cholangiocarcinoma patients using an mGRASE sequence and an endoscope coil based on a thin-film magneto-inductive waveguide and designed ultimately for internal use.ResultsDisease-induced changes including granulomatous inflammation, intraepithelial neoplasia and intraductal tumours were correlated with histopathology, and relaxation data were compared with mono- and bi-exponential models of T2 relaxation. An approximately 10-fold local advantage in SNR compared to a 16-element torso coil was demonstrated using the endoscope coil, and improved tissue differentiation was obtained without contrast agents.ConclusionThe performance advantage above follows directly from the inverse relation between the component of the standard deviation of T2 due to thermal noise and the SNR, and offers an effective method of exploiting the SNR advantage of internal coils. No correction is required, avoiding the need for tracking, relaxing constraints on coil and slice orientation and providing rapid visualization.

SNR advantage of anisotropy in oceanic optical wireless communications links.

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an optical wireless communication (OWC) link that operates in anisotropic oceanic turbulence is evaluated. To find the SNR advantage of the anisotropy in the oceanic turbulent medium, SNR in anisotropic oceanic turbulence is normalized by the SNR in isotropic oceanic turbulence. The dB values of this normalized SNR are examined versus the oceanic turbulence parameters of the ratio of temperature to salinity contributions to the refractive index spectrum, the rate of dissipation of mean-squared temperature, the rate of dissipation of kinetic energy per unit mass of fluid at various oceanic anisotropic factors, the avalanche multiplication factors, the radii of receiver aperture, link lengths, and detector responsivity values. It is found that as the oceanic turbulence becomes more anisotropic, at any link parameter, the SNR of the OWC link becomes advantageous over the isotropic counterpart.

A Comparison of CP-OFDM, PCC-OFDM and UFMC for 5G Uplink Communications

Polynomial-cancellation-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (PCC-OFDM) is a form of OFDM that has waveforms which are very well localized in both the time and frequency domains and so it is ideally suited for use in the 5G network. This paper analyzes the performance of PCC-OFDM in the uplink of a multiuser system using orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and compares it with conventional cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM), and universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC). PCC-OFDM is shown to be very much less sensitive to time and frequency offsets than either CP-OFDM or UFMC. For a given constellation size, PCC-OFDM in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) requires 3 dB lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a given bit-error-rate, and the SNR advantage of PCC-OFDM increases rapidly when there are timing and/or frequency offsets. For PCC-OFDM no frequency guard-band is required between different OFDMA users. PCC-OFDM is completely compatible with CP-OFDM and adds negligible complexity and latency, because it uses a simple mapping of data onto pairs of subcarriers at the transmitter, and a simple weighting-and-adding of pairs of subcarriers at the receiver. The weighting-and-adding step, which has been omitted in some of the literature, is shown to contribute substantially to the SNR advantage of PCC-OFDM. A disadvantage of PCC-OFDM (without overlapping) is the potential reduction in spectral efficiency because subcarriers are modulated in pairs, but this reduction is more than regained because no guard band is required and because, for a given channel, larger constellations can be used.

Performance study of opportunistic scheduling in dual‐hop multi‐user underlay cognitive network

In this study, the authors investigate the performance of opportunistic scheduling for the dual-hop amplify-and-forward multi-user cognitive relaying network. Expressions are derived for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and probability density function of the equivalent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). From the derived CDF, the outage performance of the cognitive network is investigated. Then, an expression for average error probability is derived. Furthermore, simple and generic asymptotic expressions for the outage and error probabilities are obtained and discussed. In addition, a closed-form expression for the system's ergodic capacity is derived. Their asymptotic results show that opportunistic scheduling has no impact on diversity gain. It is confirmed that the array gain determines the SNR advantage of opportunistic scheduling over the single-user scenario. Moreover, they study adaptive power allocation under the total transmit power constraint in order to minimise the average error probability. As expected, the results show that optimum power allocation improves system performance compared with uniform power allocation. Finally, numerical results and Monte Carlo simulations are also provided to support the correctness of the analytical calculations.

Dixon-type and subtraction-type contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography: A theoretical and experimental comparison of SNR and CNR.

The purpose of this work is to compare the behavior of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in contrast-enhanced MR angiography with background suppression performed by either a Dixon-type or subtraction-type method. Theoretical expressions for the SNR and CNR for both background suppression techniques were derived. The theoretical Dixon:subtraction SNR and CNR ratios were compared to empirical ratios measured from phantom and in vivo studies for Dixon techniques utilizing one, two, and three echoes. Specifically, the SNR and CNR ratios were compared as the concentration of contrast material in the blood changed. Empirical measurements of the SNR and CNR ratios compared favorably with the ratios predicted by theory. As the contrast concentration was reduced, the SNR advantage of the Dixon techniques increased asymptotically. In the ideal case, the SNR improvement over subtraction contrast-enhanced MR angiography was at least twofold for one- and two-echo Dixon techniques and at least a factor of 6 for the three-echo Dixon technique. Expressions showing a contrast concentration-dependent SNR and CNR improvement of at least a factor of two when Dixon-type contrast-enhanced MR angiography is used in place of subtraction-type contrast-enhanced MR angiography were derived and validated with phantom and in vivo experiments. Magn Reson Med 74:81-92, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Breast MRI at 7 Tesla with a bilateral coil and robust fat suppression.

To develop a bilateral coil and fat suppressed T1-weighted sequence for 7 Tesla (T) breast MRI. A dual-solenoid coil and three-dimensional (3D) T1w gradient echo sequence with B1+ insensitive fat suppression (FS) were developed. T1w FS image quality was characterized through image uniformity and fat-water contrast measurements in 11 subjects. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and flip angle maps were acquired to assess the coil performance. Bilateral contrast-enhanced and unilateral high resolution (0.6 mm isotropic, 6.5 min acquisition time) imaging highlighted the 7T SNR advantage. Reliable and effective FS and high image quality was observed in all subjects at 7T, indicating that the custom coil and pulse sequence were insensitive to high-field obstacles such as variable tissue loading. 7T and 3T image uniformity was similar (P=0.24), indicating adequate 7T B1+ uniformity. High 7T SNR and fat-water contrast enabled 0.6 mm isotropic imaging and visualization of a high level of fibroglandular tissue detail. 7T T1w FS bilateral breast imaging is feasible with a custom radiofrequency (RF) coil and pulse sequence. Similar image uniformity was achieved at 7T and 3T, despite different RF field behavior and variable coil-tissue interaction due to anatomic differences that might be expected to alter magnetic field patterns.

Breast MRI at 7 Tesla with a bilateral coil and T1-weighted acquisition with robust fat suppression: image evaluation and comparison with 3 Tesla

To evaluate the image quality of T1-weighted fat-suppressed breast MRI at 7 T and to compare 7-T and 3-T images. Seventeen subjects were imaged using a 7-T bilateral transmit-receive coil and 3D gradient echo sequence with adiabatic inversion-based fat suppression (FS). Images were graded on a five-point scale and quantitatively assessed through signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), fibroglandular/fat contrast and signal uniformity measurements. Image scores at 7 and 3 T were similar on standard-resolution images (1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1-1.6 mm(3)), indicating that high-quality breast imaging with clinical parameters can be performed at 7 T. The 7-T SNR advantage was underscored on 0.6-mm isotropic images, where image quality was significantly greater than at 3 T (4.2 versus 3.1, P ≤ 0.0001). Fibroglandular/fat contrast was more than two times higher at 7 T than at 3 T, owing to effective adiabatic inversion-based FS and the inherent 7-T signal advantage. Signal uniformity was comparable at 7 and 3 T (P < 0.05). Similar 7-T image quality was observed in all subjects, indicating robustness against anatomical variation. The 7-T bilateral transmit-receive coil and adiabatic inversion-based FS technique produce image quality that is as good as or better than at 3 T. • High image quality bilateral breast MRI is achievable with clinical parameters at 7 T. • 7-T high-resolution imaging improves delineation of subtle soft tissue structures. • Adiabatic-based fat suppression provides excellent fibroglandular/fat contrast at 7 T. • 7- and 3-T 3D T1-weighted gradient-echo images have similar signal uniformity. • The 7-T dual solenoid coil enables bilateral imaging without compromising uniformity.

Better-ear glimpsing efficiency with symmetrically-placed interfering talkers

In listening tasks where a target speech signal is spatially separated from a masking voice, listeners can often gain a substantial advantage in performance by attending to the ear with the better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, this better-ear strategy becomes much more complicated when a target talker located in front of the listener is masked by interfering talkers positioned at symmetric locations to the left and right of the target. When this happens, there are no long-term SNR advantages at either ear and the only binaural SNR advantages available are the result of complicated better-ear glimpses that vary as a function of frequency and rapidly switch back and forth between the two ears according to the natural fluctuations in the relative levels of the two masking voices. In this study, a signal processing technique was used to take the better-ear glimpses that would ordinarily be randomly distributed across the two ears in a binaural speech signal and move them all into the same ear. This resulted in a monaural signal that contained all the information available to an ideal listener using an optimal binaural glimpsing strategy. Speech intelligibility was measured with these optimized monaural stimuli and compared to performance with unprocessed binaural speech stimuli. Performance was similar in these two conditions, suggesting that listeners with normal hearing are able to efficiently extract information from better-ear glimpses that fluctuate rapidly across frequency and across the two ears.

Broadband parametric multicasting via four-mode phase-sensitive interaction

Optical frequency multicasting with significantly enhanced signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) is demonstrated over wide wavelength range. High-fidelity multicasting relies on a four-mode phase-sensitive (PS) parametric process. Four-mode seeding was used to drive dual-pump, multistage mixer and achieve high-efficiency frequency comb generation and signal replication assisted by field interference. New PS mixer was measured to possess near 12-dB of spectrally uniform optical SNR advantage over conventional, phase-insensitive (PI) parametric multicaster. In signal attenuation regime, PS operation was measured with better than 10dB over the entire mixer band, indicating highly controllable PS interference. The role of the new PS mixer in near-noiseless signal replication is elaborated.

Sodium imaging of human brain at 7 T with 15‐channel array coil

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a major challenge to sodium magnetic resonance imaging. Phased array coils have been shown significantly improving SNR in proton imaging over volume coils. This study investigates SNR advantage of a 15-channel array head coil (birdcage volume coil for transmit/receive and 15-channel array insert for receive-only) in sodium imaging at 7 T. Phantoms and healthy human brains were scanned on a whole-body 7 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner using a customer-developed pulse sequence with the twisted projection imaging trajectory. Noise-only images were acquired with blanked radiofrequency excitations for noise measurement on a pixel basis. SNR was calculated on the root of sum-of-squares images. When compared with the volume coil, the 15-channel array produced SNR more than doubled at the periphery and slightly increased at the center of the phantoms and human brains. Decorrelation of noise across channels of the array coil extended the SNR-doubled region into deep area of the brain. The spatial modulation of element sensitivities on the sum-of-squares combined image was removed by performing self-calibrated sensitivity encoding parallel image reconstruction and uniform image intensity across entire field of view was attained. The 15-channel array coil is an efficient tool to substantially improve SNR in sodium imaging on human brain.

Design, evaluation and application of an eight channel transmit/receive coil array for cardiac MRI at 7.0 T

The objective of this work is to design, examine and apply an eight channel transmit/receive coil array tailored for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at 7.0T that provides image quality suitable for clinical use, patient comfort, and ease of use. The cardiac coil array was designed to consist of a planar posterior section and a modestly curved anterior section. For radio frequency (RF) safety validation, numerical computations of the electromagnetic field (EMF) and the specific absorption rate (SAR) distribution were conducted. In vivo cardiac imaging was performed using a 2D CINE FLASH technique. For signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) assessment reconstructed images were scaled in SNR units. The parallel imaging capabilities of the coil were examined using GRAPPA and SENSE reconstruction with reduction factors of up to R=4. The assessment of the RF characteristics yielded a maximum noise correlation of 0.33. The baseline SNR advantage at 7.0T was put to use to acquire 2D CINE images of the heart with a spatial resolution of 1mm×1mm×4mm. The coil array supports 1D acceleration factors of up to R=3 without impairing image quality significantly. For un-accelerated 2D CINE FLASH acquisitions the results revealed an SNR of approximately 140 for the left ventricular blood pool. Blood/myocardium contrast was found to be approximately 90 for un-accelerated 2D CINE FLASH acquisitions. The proposed 8 channel cardiac transceiver surface coil has the capability to acquire high contrast, high spatial and temporal resolution in vivo images of the heart at 7.0T.