Highly accelerated acquisition and homogeneous image reconstruction with rotating RF coil array at 7T-A phantom based...

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Radiofrequency Coil Technology
• Image Reconstruction Algorithms

Background:

• Parallel imaging (PI) accelerates MRI using phased array coils (PACs).
• Single-channel rotating radiofrequency coils (RRFCs) offer an alternative acceleration method.
• Combining PI and RRFC concepts may enhance MRI acceleration and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the imaging acceleration and homogeneous reconstruction of a 4-element rotating radiofrequency coil array (RRFCA) at 7T.
• To develop and validate a reconstruction algorithm for RRFCA.
• To assess the potential of RRFCA for ultra-high field MRI.

Main Methods:

• Numerical investigation and experimental validation of RRFCA at 7T using a homogeneous phantom.
• Development of the rotating SENSitivity Encoding (rotating SENSE) reconstruction algorithm.
• Optimization of angular sampling positions and transmit profiles for image reconstruction.

Main Results:

• RRFCA demonstrated superior acceleration performance with improved geometry-maps compared to stationary arrays.
• The rotating SENSE algorithm enabled faithful reconstruction of phantom images.
• The proposed technique achieved homogeneous reconstructions with higher and more uniform signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distributions at high reduction factors.

Conclusions:

• The RRFCA technique provides significant imaging acceleration and homogeneous reconstruction capabilities.
• This method holds promise for facilitating human imaging at ultra-high field MRI.
• Optimized angular sampling and transmit profiles are crucial for successful implementation.