AN IMPROVED QUADRATURE OR PHASED-ARRAY COIL FOR MR CARDIAC IMAGING

A tailored receive-only coil for cardiac imaging has been designed. Th e coil consists of two overlapping coil elements and can be used eithe r as a quadrature surface coil or as a phased-array coil. Through phan tom experiments and images of the heart, the authors have shown that t he improved cardiac coil provided a signal-to-noise ratio 1.6 times hi gher than a conventional quadrature spine coil, 1.4 times higher than that of a single coil (having the same shape and total dimension), and three times higher than the body coil at the depth of the posterior w all of the heart. The authors have also shown that the cardiac coil im proved image quality everywhere in the heart. This coil will enhance r outine clinical cardiac studies as well as other examinations such as myocardial perfusion, wall motion, and coronary artery imaging.