SENSITIVITY-ENHANCED ECHO-PLANAR MRI AT 1.5T USING A 5X5-MESH DOME RESONATOR

In this work a 5 x 5 mesh dome resonator that has been optimized for f unctional brain imaging is presented, The resonator was reduced in len gth and diameter compared with previous versions to reduce sample loss es, thus enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of the acquired data, In addition, a 5 x 5 mesh design was employed, which offered improved axi al homogeneity over an earlier 3 x 3 mesh version, The new resonator e xhibited high sensitivity and good homogeneity over the brain volume, permitting analysis of functional activation over large areas of the c erebral cortex. In a direct comparison with a standard clinical head-i maging resonator, the high sensitivity of the 5 x 5 mesh dome resonato r resulted in greater statistical confidence in functional activation.