Linear drive birdcage coil for 23Na human head studies at 1.5 T

Progress in the development of non-proton NMR applications in medical research has been hampered by the generally low sensitivity of these nuclides as well as the lack of instrumentation readily available for studying these spins. For example, custom head coils suitable for sodium imaging of the human head are either not available or very expensive, making research startup costs high or impossible. Herein the detailed design and construction of a research 23Na head coil for MRI imaging is presented. 23Na NMR images collected with the coil are presented as well as a discussion of design modifications for other nuclides.