An investigation of array elements for enhanced single echo acquisition imaging

Abstract

Rapid MR imaging has facilitated the development of a variety of medical tools such as MR guided surgeries, drug delivery, stent placement, biopsies, and blood flow imaging. This rapid imaging is largely attributable to the development of parallel imaging techniques. In one such technique, single echo acquisition (SEA) imaging, scan time is reduced by substituting the lengthy phase encoding process with spatial information from an extensive receiver coil array. In order to easily construct and obtain images from this coil array, an ideal set of coil elements would be easily decoupled and tuned, possess high SNR and penetration depth, and would allow for operation in both transmit and receive mode. Several types of coils have been considered for use in massive coil arrays, including the planar pair coil, the loop coil and the stripline coil. This thesis investigates each of these coils for use in massive arrays for SEA imaging with enhanced penetration. This investigation includes: improving the currents on the planar pair coil, determining the feasibility of the loop coil and the stripline coil at the scale required for SEA, and comparing the salient properties of each coil type. This investigation revealed that the stripline coil appears to be the best coil element for SEA imaging with enhanced penetration.