NOVEL RF COILS FOR IMAGING NEONATES

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A long-term goal is to permit routine magnetic resonance examinations of critically ill pre and term neonates. We intend to accomplish this by adapting the radio-frequency (RF) coils developed in this project to the stand-alone incubator system developed elsewhere. More specifically, this proposal will develop high performance RF coils to enable high resolution imaging of the brain, spine and heart of sick pre and term neonates. Our coils will be interfaced to General Electric (Signa), Siemens (Symphony, Sonata) and Philips (Eclipse) 1.5T and GE 3T Magnetic Resonance systems. All of the RF coils developed will be systematically evaluated with phantoms and compared to existing devices. This will be followed by clinical verifications on a small number of ill patients with the assistance of our collaborators from the neonatology and radiology departments, on the 1.5 and 3T GE Signa at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and 1.5T Philips Eclipse MRI at the MetroHealth Medical Center. In addition, specific absorption rate (SAR) measurements will be made for our transmit/receive coils using the energy per pulse method at 1.5T and 3T. With the incubator system, sick neonates can be safely transported and scanned using MR. High quality data obtained with high signal-to-noise (S/N) custom coils may assist in the prognosis/diagnosis of illnesses which in turn may lead to prompt clinical (surgical, pharmaceutical) interventions which in turn may save many precious lives. This we believe will be a significant benefit to mankind. The significance of the work proposed is paramount.