Mark Aurel Augath1,2, Patrick Heiler1, Stefan Kirsch1, Lothar R. Schad1
1Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany; 2Dept. Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany
The measurement of the spatial distribution of pathologically changing ion concentrations of 23Na and 39K could offer a very promising approach in clinical diagnostics. For MR imaging of both elements and the acquisition of anatomical proton images in the same experiment without moving the subject or the RF coil we developped a triple-resonant RF coil setup for the rat head at 9.4T. Two perpendicular Helmholtz pairs for 23Na and 39K delivered a good homogeneity over the sample volume. The flat double-D 1H surface coil showed no signs of coupling with the other coils and good coverage for shimming and anatomical images.