Development of a Shield-Room Free Compact MRI System with a Highly Homogeneous RF Coil for Bone Density Measurements at the Calcaneus

Kazuya Taniguchi¹, Shinya Handa¹, Katsumi Kose¹

A local RF shield and an RF coil with a highly homogeneous RF magnetic field were developed to reduce the installation space and the measurement time in a compact MRI system for measurements of trabecular bone volume fraction (TBVF) in the calcaneus. To achieve a homogeneous RF magnetic field, the coil wire distribution of the oval solenoid was optimized using a genetic algorithm. The homogeneous RF magnetic field enabled a multiple spin-echo sequence, which achieved 50% measurement time reduction with a 30% CV (coefficient of variance) reduction.