High Filling Factor Vs. High Channel Count: Which One Wins in 3T Breast Imaging?

Luca Marinelli¹, Eric Fiveland¹, Keith Park¹, Kenneth Rohling¹, Ileana Hancu²

The tradeoffs between high filling factor and high number of coils in 3T breast imaging were considered. Experiments performed in vitro and in vivo indicate better performance (higher SNR and lower g-factor) for the cases in which the receive array is allowed to conform to a woman's anatomy. Results also suggest that flexible, high channel count breast arrays may be one of the most promising avenues to increase the SNR of breast images.