Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2011 Feb;32(2):365-73. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A2297. Epub 2010 Dec 16.
Multichannel phased-array head coils are undergoing exponential escalation of coil element numbers. While previous technical studies have found gains in SNR and spatial resolution with the addition of element coils, it remains to be determined how these gains affect clinical reading. The purpose of this clinical study was to determine if the SNR and spatial resolution characteristics of a 32-channel head coil result in improvements in perceived image quality and lesion evaluation.
Twenty-one patients underwent MR imaging of the brain at 1.5T sequentially with both a 12-channel and a 32-channel receive-only phased-array head coil. Axial T2WIs, T1WIs, FLAIR images, and DWIs were acquired. Anonymized images were compared side-by-side and by sequence for image quality, lesion evaluation, and artifacts by 3 neuroradiologists. Results of the comparison were analyzed for the preference for a specific head coil.
FLAIR and DWI images acquired with the 32-channel coil showed significant improvement in image quality in several parameters. T2WIs also improved significantly with acquisition by the 32-channel coil, while T1WIs improved in a limited number of parameters. While lesion evaluation also improved with acquisition of images by the 32-channel coil, there was no apparent improvement in diagnostic quality. There was no difference in artifacts between the 2 coils.
Improvements in SNR and spatial resolution attributed to image acquisition with a 32-channel head coil are paralleled by perceived improvements in image quality.
多通道相控阵头部线圈的线圈元件数量正在呈指数级增长。虽然之前的技术研究已经发现随着元件线圈的增加可以提高信噪比（SNR）和空间分辨率，但仍需要确定这些增益如何影响临床阅读。本临床研究的目的是确定 32 通道头部线圈的 SNR 和空间分辨率特性是否会提高图像质量和病变评估的感知。
21 名患者在 1.5T 上依次进行磁共振成像，使用 12 通道和 32 通道仅接收相控阵头部线圈。采集轴向 T2WI、T1WI、FLAIR 图像和 DWI。对匿名图像进行并排和按序列比较，由 3 名神经放射科医生对图像质量、病变评估和伪影进行评估。比较结果分析了对特定头部线圈的偏好。
32 通道线圈采集的 FLAIR 和 DWI 图像在多个参数上的图像质量有显著改善。T2WI 也随着 32 通道线圈的采集而显著改善，而 T1WI 仅在有限的几个参数上有所改善。虽然病变评估也随着 32 通道线圈采集图像而改善，但诊断质量没有明显改善。两种线圈之间没有伪影差异。
归因于使用 32 通道头部线圈进行图像采集的 SNR 和空间分辨率的提高与图像质量的感知提高相平行。
