A Dedicated 36-Channel Receive Array for Fetal MRI at 3T

Due to a lack of fetal imaging coils, the standard commercial abdominal coil is often used for fetal imaging, the performance of which is limited by its insufficient coverage, element number, and Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, a dedicated 36-channel coil array, of which size can best fit the body sizes of pregnancy gestation from 20 to 37+ weeks, was designed for fetal imaging at 3T. SNR with full phase encoding and G-factor denoted as noise amplification for parallel imaging were quantitatively evaluated by phantom studies. Compared with a commercial abdominal coil array, the proposed 36-channel fetal array provides not only SNR improvements in full phase encoding (with 10% in the region where the whole fetal body was located, and up to 40% in the edge region where the fetal brain and heart may appear) but also an augmented parallel imaging capability and remarkable SNR improvements at high acceleration factors.

[1]  Jorge Delgado,et al.  Fetal magnetic resonance imaging: jumping from 1.5 to 3 tesla (preliminary experience) , 2014, Pediatric Radiology.

[2]  Bing Wu,et al.  Multi-Channel Microstrip Transceiver Arrays Using Harmonics for High Field MR Imaging in Humans , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[3]  D. Prayer,et al.  Fetal MRI at 3T-ready for routine use? , 2017, The British journal of radiology.

[4]  Michael Lustig,et al.  Screen-printed flexible MRI receive coils , 2016, Nature Communications.

[5]  K. Uğurbil,et al.  Microstrip RF surface coil design for extremely high‐field MRI and spectroscopy , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[6]  R. Xue,et al.  Hybrid Monopole/Loop Coil Array for Human Head MR Imaging at 7 T , 2015, Applied magnetic resonance.

[7]  S. Serai,et al.  Fetal MRI on a multi-element digital coil platform , 2013, Pediatric Radiology.

[8]  S. Saleem,et al.  Feasibility of MRI of the fetal heart with balanced steady-state free precession sequence along fetal body and cardiac planes. , 2008, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.

[9]  Yiu-Cho Chung,et al.  A 32-channel coil system for MR vessel wall imaging of intracranial and extracranial arteries at 3T. , 2017, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[10]  P. Boesiger,et al.  SENSE: Sensitivity encoding for fast MRI , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[11]  Lawrence L Wald,et al.  Massively parallel MRI detector arrays. , 2013, Journal of magnetic resonance.

[12]  Xiaoliang Zhang,et al.  Investigation of multichannel phased array performance for fetal MR imaging on 1.5T clinical MR system. , 2011, Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery.

[13]  K. Uğurbil,et al.  Transmit and receive transmission line arrays for 7 Tesla parallel imaging , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[14]  Xiaoliang Zhang,et al.  Common-Mode Differential-Mode (CMDM) Method for Double-Nuclear MR Signal Excitation and Reception at Ultrahigh Fields , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[15]  S. Saleem,et al.  Fetal MRI: An approach to practice: A review , 2013, Journal of advanced research.

[16]  Ann M. Johnson,et al.  Comparison Between 1.5-T and 3-T MRI for Fetal Imaging: Is There an Advantage to Imaging With a Higher Field Strength? , 2016, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.

[17]  Wei Chen,et al.  An inverted-microstrip resonator for human head proton MR imaging at 7 tesla , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[18]  Xiaoliang Zhang,et al.  Decoupling and matching network for monopole antenna arrays in ultrahigh field MRI. , 2015, Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery.

[19]  Paul Aljabar,et al.  Fetal cardiac cine imaging using highly accelerated dynamic MRI with retrospective motion correction and outlier rejection , 2017, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[20]  Mark H Spatz,et al.  A 64 channel 3T array coil for highly accelerated fetal imaging at 22 weeks of pregnancy , 2017 .

[21]  Sharmila Majumdar,et al.  Flexible transceiver array for ultrahigh field human MR imaging , 2012, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[22]  D. Vigneron,et al.  ICE decoupling technique for RF coil array designs. , 2011, Medical physics.

[23]  L. Wald,et al.  Theory and application of array coils in MR spectroscopy , 1997, NMR in biomedicine.

[24]  R. Loomba,et al.  The developing role of fetal magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of congenital cardiac anomalies: A systematic review , 2011, Annals of pediatric cardiology.

[25]  R. Xue,et al.  Eight-Channel Monopole Array Using ICE Decoupling for Human Head MR Imaging at 7 T , 2016, Applied magnetic resonance.

[26]  Wei Chen,et al.  Higher‐order harmonic transmission‐line RF coil design for MR applications , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  R. Xue,et al.  Closely Spaced Double-Row Microstrip RF Arrays for Parallel MR Imaging at Ultrahigh Fields , 2015, Applied magnetic resonance.

[28]  C. Garel.  MRI of the Fetal Brain , 2012, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[29]  K. Uğurbil,et al.  A microstrip transmission line volume coil for human head MR imaging at 4T. , 2003, Journal of magnetic resonance.

[30]  Daniel K. Sodickson,et al.  Coil Array Design for Parallel Imaging: Theory and Applications , 2011 .

[31]  A. Webb,et al.  High permittivity pads reduce specific absorption rate, improve B1 homogeneity, and increase contrast‐to‐noise ratio for functional cardiac MRI at 3 T , 2014, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[32]  M Takahashi,et al.  MR imaging of the fetus by a HASTE sequence. , 1997, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.

[33]  Xiaoliang Zhang,et al.  The Need and Initial Practice of Parallel Imaging and Compressed Sensing in Hyperpolarized 13C MRI in vivo. , 2015, OMICS journal of radiology.

[34]  Trevor M. Benson,et al.  A Dynamic Vector Model of Microstrip RF Resonators for High-Field MR Imaging , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[35]  Bing Wu,et al.  Shielded Microstrip Array for 7T Human MR Imaging , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.