Biplanar rf coils for magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopy

Abstract

A new geometry for a radio frequency coil design in which longitudinal conductors of the coil lie on two parallel planes. The currents in the conductors of one plane run in the opposite direction to those of the other plane. For the case of discrete conductors, field maps illustrate that the homogeneity and sensitivity of the biplanar design are superior to that of a saddle coil, and when the design is optimized, the homogeneity is almost as good as that for comparable discrete cosine or birdcage coil designs. The measured B1 map of an optimized, single-tuned biplanar coil in accordance with the invention thus compares favorably to that of an equivalent discrete cosine coil and demonstrates excellent homogeneity in the central region of the coil. However, the biplanar RF coils of the invention are advantageous in that the cost of the coils may be substantially reduced by reducing the number of conductors, in that the coil may be easily accessed on one of its sides as well as at both ends, and in that increased sensitivity is possible since the biplanar coils may be placed closer to the objects under investigation. This makes the coil of the present invention highly desirable for certain applications such as breast, shoulder, knee, wrist, neck and cardiac imaging.