Improved Optic Nerve Imaging Using a Collapsible Head Coil Design

Robb Merrill¹, Dennis Parker¹, Emilee Minalga¹, Laura Bell¹, John Rose^2,3, Rock Hadley¹

Existing head coils are typically built using one-piece rigid cylindrical formers. The performance of advanced imaging techniques of the optic nerve is limited by reduced SNR when smaller-sized heads are imaged in these coils. Phantom studies in a rigid 12-channel Siemens coil indicate an SNR difference of over 60% when the coil-to-sample distance from the top coil elements is decreased by 4cm. This study shows results from an improved collapsible-design head coil specifically built for optic nerve imaging. Volunteer studies show an SNR improvement of nearly 30% in the orbits when the collapsible optic nerve coil is used.