Abstract #1690

Comparison of Multi Nuclear Coil Designs for 1H and 23Na in the Human Knee

Michael Muelly¹, Ronald D. Watkins¹, Caroline Jordan¹,², Neal K. Bangerter³, Garry E. Gold¹

¹Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; ²Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; ³Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States

Sodium MRI is useful in knee imaging to identify articular cartilage pathology. Current coil design use four ring birdcages which limit the field-of-view and signal-to-noise ratio. We report significant improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio of sodium imaging with unchanged signal-to-noise of proton imaging using an optimized two birdcage coil design.