Cryogenic and Superconducting Coils for MRI

A sufficient signal to noise ratio is one of the limiting factors for high-resolution imaging of animals. In the past few years, there has been an unbroken trend to higher static magnetic fields in order to achieve the necessary sensitivity for highly resolved images on small animals. Another economically attractive option for enhancing the sensitivity of high-resolution imaging of small animals is the introduction of cryogenic and superconducting probes. RF coils have the most important role in the receive chain of MRI systems and the challenge for the RF engineer to build the most efficient possible RF coil and receiver system. Since, for small volumes of tissue, the sample noise and thermal noise are of comparable magnitude with respect to the RF coil and receiver system, a considerable noise reduction could be achieved by cooling the RF coil and receiver system, a method that has been well established for more than 10 years in high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. This article is related to the design consideration and the limitations of cryogenically cooled RF probes for animal MR imaging. Keywords: cryogenic; RF-probes; superconducting; RF coils; animal imaging; high-resolution imaging; cryo-probes; cryo-coils

[1]  S. Megherbi,et al.  Behavioral VHDL-AMS model and experimental validation of a nuclear magnetic resonance sensor , 2005 .

[2]  Ferenc A Jolesz,et al.  Superconducting RF coils for clinical MR imaging at low field. , 2003, Academic radiology.

[3]  A. S. Hall,et al.  Use of high temperature superconductor in a receiver coil for magnetic resonance imaging , 1991, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[4]  P Crozat,et al.  High‐temperature superconducting surface coil for in vivo microimaging of the human skin , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[5]  A. Haase,et al.  A superconducting probehead applicable for nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy at 7 T , 1998 .

[6]  L Darrasse,et al.  Perspectives with cryogenic RF probes in biomedical MRI. , 2003, Biochimie.

[7]  A Mogro-Campero,et al.  A high-temperature superconducting receiver for nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy. , 1993, Science.

[8]  J Hennig,et al.  RARE imaging: A fast imaging method for clinical MR , 1986, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[9]  R. Kirschman,et al.  Potential benefits of a cryogenically cooled NMR probe for room-temperature samples , 1989 .

[10]  Daniel Marek,et al.  Performance of a 200‐MHz cryogenic RF probe designed for MRI and MRS of the murine brain , 2008, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[11]  G A Johnson,et al.  A high‐temperature superconducting Helmholtz probe for microscopy at 9.4 T , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[12]  Felix W. Wehrli,et al.  In vivo MR micro imaging with conventional radiofrequency coils cooled to 77°K , 2000 .

[13]  Joël Mispelter,et al.  NMR Probeheads for Biophysical and Biomedical Experiments: Theoretical Principles and Practical Guidelines , 2006 .

[14]  A. S. Hall,et al.  Investigation of a whole‐body receiver coil operating at liquid nitrogen temperatures , 1988, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

[15]  L Darrasse,et al.  Optimization of NMR receiver bandwidth by inductive coupling. , 1992, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[16]  G. Johnson,et al.  Performance of a high-temperature superconducting resonator for high-field imaging , 1995 .

[17]  J R MacFall,et al.  Performance of a high‐temperature superconducting probe for in vivo microscopy at 2.0 T , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[18]  M. C. Cheng,et al.  Performance of large-size Superconducting coil in 0.21T MRI system , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.