PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kyle M. Gilbert
AU  - Paul Dubovan
AU  - Joseph S. Gati
AU  - Ravi S. Menon
AU  - Corey A. Baron
TI  - Integration of a radiofrequency coil and commercial field camera for ultra-high-field MRI
AID  - 10.1101/2021.09.27.462001
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.09.27.462001
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/28/2021.09.27.462001.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/28/2021.09.27.462001.full
AB  - Purpose To develop an RF coil with an integrated commercial field camera for ultra-high field (7 T) neuroimaging. The RF coil will operate within a head-only gradient coil and be subject to the corresponding design constraints. The RF coil can thereafter be used for subject-specific correction of k-space trajectories—notably in gradient-sensitive sequences such as single-shot spiral imaging.Methods The transmit and receive performance was evaluated before and after the integration of field probes, while field probes were evaluated when in an optimal configuration external to the coil and after their integration. Diffusion-weighted EPI and single-shot spiral acquisitions were employed to evaluate the efficacy of correcting higher order field perturbations and the consequent effect on image quality.Results Field probes had a negligible effect on RF-coil performance, including the transmit efficiency, transmit uniformity, and mean SNR over the brain. Modest reductions in field-probe signal lifetimes were observed, caused primarily by non-idealities in the gradient and shim fields of the head-only gradient coil at the probe positions. The field monitoring system could correct up to second-order field perturbations in single-shot spiral imaging.Conclusion The integrated RF coil and field camera was capable of concurrent field monitoring within a 7T head-only scanner and facilitated the subsequent correction of k-space trajectories during spiral imaging.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.