Improved surface coil imaging in MR: decoupling of the excitation and receiver coils.

We obtained magnetic resonance images with good sensitivity and radio frequency (RF) uniformity using separate transmitter and receiver coils. The excitation, namely, the rotation of the magnetization vector into a plane perpendicular to the magnetic field, was done by applying a homogeneous RF magnetic field produced by a large saddle-shaped coil. Surface coils were used for detection only. Because two coils that operated on the same resonance frequency were used, a coupling problem developed. This problem, which involved inhomogeneity of the RF magnetic field caused by the large current induced in the surface coil during excitation, could only be solved by minimizing the mutual inductance or maximizing the impedance of the surface coil resonance circuit during excitation. We were able to solve this problem using an electronic detuning method.

Increased rf power absorption in MR imaging due to rf coupling between body coil and surface coil.

Fears have been voiced that excessive tissue heating could occur in the event that first, a surface coil is placed with its axis parallel to the transmitting rf field leading to a maximal coupling of the two coils and second, the decoupling circuit of the surface coil breaks down. To avoid an rf coupling of the transmitting body coil to the receive-only surface coil, conventionally applied surface coils are equipped with an active electronic rf decoupling circuit. In extensive worst-case experiments on phantoms we have shown that no tissue heating occurs for surface coils which are equipped with semiconductor varicap diodes for tuning and matching. These coils should be safe for patient applications even if the decoupling circuit fails. Surface coils equipped with mechanically variable capacitors are generally passively decoupled. To simulate the worst-case situation phantom experiments were performed in which a surface coil of this type having no passive decoupling circuit was coupled to the transmitter coil by its geometric position. Theoretical calculations, in agreement with the experimental results achieved during a 15-min measurement in a 1.5-T MRI whole-body imager, show that a significant rf power deposition in the tissue underneath the coil wire occurs, leading typically to a local specific absorption rate of 24 W/kg and a local temperature rise of 5.2 degrees C.

Carcinoma of the urinary bladder: MR imaging with a double surface coil.

Twenty-four patients with carcinoma of the urinary bladder were examined with MR imaging by using both a conventional body coil and a newly designed wraparound double surface coil. All patients had T1- and two patients had T2-weighted pulse sequences with both coils. Because of the long examination times, T2-weighted sequences in all other patients were obtained by using the double surface coil only. Nine patients underwent radical cystectomy, while the other patients had deep transurethral tumor resection and a clinical follow-up of at least 1.5 years. The results of imaging with the surface coil showed a twofold improvement of spatial resolution compared with the images obtained with the body coil. The RF field homogeneity was excellent, and the field of view was sufficiently large to achieve a complete study of the pelvis and the lower abdomen in one sequence. For the T1-weighted images, the higher spatial resolution of the double surface coil resulted in a significant (p less than .10) improvement in tumor staging. The accuracies of double-surface-coil and body-coil imaging were 79% and 54%, respectively. Double-surface-coil imaging appears to provide better MR images of the urinary bladder than body-coil imaging does, resulting in more accurate staging of tumors on T1-weighted pulse sequences.