Abstract
PURPOSE: Imaging the carotid arteries at 7T ideally requires a flexible multichannel array that allows B1-shimming and conforms to different neck sizes. The major challenge is to minimize coupling between closely spaced coils and to make the coupling relatively insensitive to loading conditions. METHODS: We have designed a five-channel flexible transceive array composed of shielded-coaxial-cable coils placed on the anterior part of the neck and conforming to the anatomy. In vivo imaging of the carotid arteries in three subjects has been performed. RESULTS: The measured noise correlation matrices show the decoupling level between the individual elements to be -12.5 dB and better. Anatomical localizer imaging of the carotids shows both carotids in every subject well visualized after B1-shimming. In vivo black-blood, carotid images were acquired with very high in-plane spatial resolution (0.25 × 0.25 mm(2) ) with clear depiction of the vessel walls. CONCLUSIONS: The flexibility of the proposed coil has been demonstrated by imaging subjects with different neck circumferences. To the best of our knowledge, the in-plane resolution of 0.25 × 0.25 mm(2) is the highest reported at 7T.