Superconducting receiver coils for sodium magnetic resonance imaging

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 43; no. 12; pp. 1197 - 1199
• Main Authors: Miller, J.R., Zhang, K., Ma, Q.Y., Mun, I.K., Jung, K.J., Katz, J., Face, D.W., Kountz, D.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-12-1996; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical imaging; Copper; Electric Conductivity; Equipment Design; Fourier Analysis; High temperature superconductors; Humans; Hydrogen; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Low-frequency noise; Magnetic noise; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - instrumentation; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous. Technology; Phantoms, Imaging; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Reproducibility of Results; Signal to noise ratio; Superconducting coils; Superconducting device noise; Time Factors; Inductance; Sodium; Electronic component; Medical imagery; System design; Technique; Copper; Signal analysis; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Optimization; High temperature superconductor; Signal to noise ratio
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/10.544344

Presents the results from sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments using high-temperature superconducting (HTS) receiver coils. Sodium imaging has been shown to have great potential for the assessment of cell integrity but suffers from substantially lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than that of hydrogen imaging. The use of an HTS receiver coil was found to significantly increase the SNR relative to an equivalent copper receiver coil at room temperature. The SNR gains afforded by HTS coils can also be used to decrease the imaging time.