QUADRATURE RF COIL ARRAYS FOR MRI OF THE HUMAN BREAST

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The long range objective of this proposal is to develop a radio frequency (RF) antenna array for optimized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human breast. Recent MRI technique development has made possible sensitive detection of breast cancer and other abnormalities, but the major manufacturers of MRI systems have not provided high performance RF coils which would help make these techniques practical for imaging the breast. This proposal seeks to develop an rf coil array which will provide at least a 40% improvement in signal to noise over available technology and the potential for simultaneous acquisition from both breasts in the time usually required for single coil imaging. These goals will be accomplished by the application of a generalized theory of quadrature reception which is unique and proprietary technology. RF coil geometries are proposed which provide the proper orientation to the spin system with elements arranged on a hemispheric form to be non-interacting and noise independent. The result of this work would be an optimal coil array which would make possible shorter imaging times and/or higher resolution images on the 2,000 plus MRI systems for which the array could be readily adapted.