Optimized 64-channel array configurations for accelerated simultaneous multislice acquisitions in 3T cardiac MRI.

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Accelerated cardiac MRI is crucial for reducing motion artifacts.
• Simultaneous multislice (SMS) imaging offers significant acceleration but requires advanced coil designs.
• Optimizing coil geometry is key to maximizing performance in accelerated sequences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate three 64-channel cardiac MRI coil arrays with varying detector configurations.
• To assess the acceleration capabilities of these coils for simultaneous multislice (SMS) cardiac imaging at 3 Tesla.
• To compare the impact of uniform, gapped, and dense (non-uniform) loop distributions on imaging performance.

Main Methods:

• Developed three 64-channel cardiac coil arrays (Uni-sized, Gapped, Dense) using simulation-guided design.
• Evaluated coils using bench measurements (SNR maps, noise correlation) and imaging tests.
• Assessed SMS acceleration performance and conducted in-vivo imaging on a healthy volunteer.

Main Results:

• The C_Dense array, featuring non-uniform loop density and size, demonstrated superior cardiac imaging performance.
• This configuration achieved the best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and SMS encoding capabilities.
• Volunteer imaging confirmed favorable accelerated SNR performance with the C_Dense array.

Conclusions:

• Optimized, highly parallel cardiac arrays with non-uniform element design enhance accelerated SMS cardiac MRI.
• The C_Dense 64-channel coil design improves upon symmetrically distributed arrays for accelerated cardiac imaging.
• Non-uniform loop distribution is a promising strategy for advancing high-acceleration cardiac MRI techniques.