M. Arcan Erturk1, Alexander J Raaijmakers2, Gregor Adriany1, Kamil Ugurbil1, and Gregory J Metzger1
1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, 2Imaging Division, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
We
developed a 16-channel transceiver body array (16LD) by combining loop and
dipole elements, and compared performance against 16-channel microstrip-line
(16ML) and 10-channel fractionated dipole antenna (10DA) arrays. Complementary
field characteristics of loop and dipole elements were utilized by
symmetrically placing them along their long-axes. The loop-dipole combination allowed
increased channel counts and density while limiting inter-element coupling. The
16LD had improved transmit and receive performance over the 16ML and 10DA in
both simulations and experiments. Images of the prostate, kidneys and heart
were acquired showing the potential of the 16LD to successfully image targets
throughout the body at 7.0T.
