Oliver
Kraff1, 2, Stephan Orzada1, 2,
Mohamed Choukri1, Anja Fischer1, 2, Susanne
C. Ladd1, 2, Mark E. Ladd1, 2,
Andreas K. Bitz1, 2
1Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
A transmit/receive RF array was built for imaging the shoulder and upper extremities at 7 Tesla. Eight meander stripline elements were aligned on a c-shaped holder which can be split into two parts for easy patient positioning. The coil allows imaging of either the right or left upper extremity. in vivo images of the shoulder and elbow revealed uniform excitation over the whole field-of-view in both gradient and spin echo images, rendering fine anatomical details of cartilage, bone, nerves, vasculature, and tendons.