Nohava Lena, Obermann Michael, Frass-Kriegl Roberta, Soanca Onisim, Laistler Elmar
High Field MR Center, Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Z Med Phys. 2025 May;35(2):193-203. doi: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.05.002. Epub 2023 May 29.
Flexible form-fitting radiofrequency coils provide high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in array configuration large anatomical areas of interest can be covered. We propose a modular system - "ModFlex"- of flexible lightweight 4-channel coaxial coil arrays for 3 T MRI. We investigated the performance difference between commercial reference coils and 8- and 16-channel ModFlex receive-only array systems. In vivo, six anatomical targets in four regions of interest - the neck, the ankle, the spine and the hip - were imaged with the novel coil array system. The versatility of ModFlex and the robustness of the coil characteristics for different use cases is demonstrated. We measured an SNR gain for 4 out of 6 and similar SNR for 2 out of 6 anatomical target regions as compared to commercial reference coils. Parallel imaging capabilities are comparable to standard coils in hip and neck imaging, but ModFlex outperforms standard coils in ankle and spine imaging. High SNR combined with high acceleration possibilities enables faster imaging workflows and/or high-resolution MR acquisitions. The coil's versatility is beneficial for use cases with varying subject sizes and could improve patient comfort.
灵活的贴合人体形状的射频线圈可为磁共振成像（MRI）提供高信噪比（SNR），并且采用阵列配置时可以覆盖大面积感兴趣的解剖区域。我们提出了一种用于3T MRI的灵活轻便的4通道同轴线圈阵列模块化系统——“ModFlex”。我们研究了商用参考线圈与8通道和16通道仅用于接收的ModFlex阵列系统之间的性能差异。在体实验中，使用新型线圈阵列系统对四个感兴趣区域（颈部、脚踝、脊柱和髋部）中的六个解剖靶点进行了成像。结果证明了ModFlex的通用性以及针对不同应用案例的线圈特性的稳健性。与商用参考线圈相比，我们测得6个解剖靶点区域中有4个区域的SNR有所提高，另外2个区域的SNR相近。在髋部和颈部成像中，并行成像能力与标准线圈相当，但在脚踝和脊柱成像中，ModFlex优于标准线圈。高SNR与高加速可能性相结合，能够实现更快的成像流程和/或高分辨率MR采集。该线圈的通用性有利于不同受试者体型的应用案例，并且可以提高患者舒适度。
