Probe with chest shielding for improved breast MRI

Quadrature transmit coil for breast imaging at 7 tesla using forced current excitation for improved homogeneity

PURPOSE

To demonstrate the use of forced current excitation (FCE) to create homogeneous excitation of the breast at 7 tesla, insensitive to the effects of asymmetries in the electrical environment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

FCE was implemented on two breast coils: one for quadrature (1) H imaging and one for proton-decoupled (13) C spectroscopy. Both were a Helmholtz-saddle combination, with the saddle tuned to 298 MHz for imaging and 75 MHz for spectroscopy. Bench measurements were acquired to demonstrate the ability to force equal currents on elements in the presence of asymmetric loading to improve homogeneity. Modeling and temperature measurements were conducted per safety protocol. B1 mapping, imaging, and proton-decoupled (13) C spectroscopy were demonstrated in vivo.

RESULTS

Using FCE to ensure balanced currents on elements enabled straightforward tuning and maintaining of isolation between quadrature elements of the coil. Modeling and bench measurements confirmed homogeneity of the field, which resulted in images with excellent fat suppression and in broadband proton-decoupled carbon-13 spectra.

CONCLUSION

FCE is a straightforward approach to ensure equal currents on multiple coil elements and a homogeneous excitation field, insensitive to the effects of asymmetries in the electrical environment. This enabled effective breast imaging and proton-decoupled carbon-13 spectroscopy at 7T.

Proton MRS of the breast in the clinical setting

Information for determining whether a primary breast lesion is invasive and its receptor status and grade can be obtained before surgery by performing proton MRS on a fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) specimen and analyzing the MRS information by a pattern recognition method. Two-dimensional MRS, on either specimens or cells, allows the unambiguous assignment of most resonances. When correlated with the spectral regions selected by the pattern recognition method, there are strong indications for the biochemical markers responsible for prognostic information of invasive capacity and metastatic spread. Spectral assignments and biological correlations can be made using cell models. In vivo MRS can distinguish invasive from benign lesions. This pathological distinction can be made from the presence of resonances at discrete frequencies. To achieve this level of spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, there are stringent requirements when acquiring and processing the data. The challenge now is to implement two-dimensional MRS in vivo. Until this is realized, the combination of in vivo MR, for diagnosis and spatial location, and MRS, for image-guided biopsy to provide information on tumor spread, promises to provide a higher level of preoperative diagnosis than previously achieved.

Higher-order harmonic transmission-line RF coil design for MR applications

A novel concept based on the use of higher-order harmonic resonances in a transmission-line resonator is introduced for the design of high-frequency RF coils at high and ultrahigh fields, where conventional RF coil designs present difficulties and limitations. To demonstrate this concept, we successfully designed and fabricated a 400-MHz RF coil for rat imaging using a second-harmonic resonant microstrip transmission line. This coil has a high Q-factor, reduces coil-cable interactions without the use of a matching balun, and has a broad range for tuning the coil's resonant frequency at the loaded condition. This work demonstrates that the use of higher-order harmonics in a transmission-line resonator provides an alternative, efficient approach to the design of large and high-frequency RF coils.

Specificity of choline metabolites for in vivo diagnosis of breast cancer using 1H MRS at 1.5�T

The purpose was to determine if in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) at 1.5 T can accurately provide the correct pathology of breast disease. Forty-three asymptomatic volunteers including three lactating mothers were examined and compared with 21 breast cancer patients. Examinations were undertaken at 1.5 T using a purpose-built transmit-receive single breast coil. Single voxel spectroscopy was undertaken using echo times of 135 and 350 ms. The broad composite resonance at 3.2 ppm, which includes contributions from choline, phosphocholine (PC), glycerophosphocholine (GPC), myo-inositol and taurine, was found not to be a unique marker for malignancy providing a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 80.0 and 86.0%, respectively. This was due to three of the asymptomatic volunteers and all of the lactating mothers also generating the broad composite resonance at 3.2 ppm. Optimised post-acquisitional processing of the spectra resolved a resonance at 3.22 ppm, consistent with PC, in patients with cancer. In contrast the spectra recorded for three false-positive volunteers, and the three lactating mothers had a resonance centred at 3.28 ppm (possibly taurine, myo-inositol or GPC). This improved the specificity of the test to 100%. Careful referencing of the spectra and post-acquisitional processing intended to optimise spectral resolution of in vivo MR proton spectra from human breast tissue resolves the composite choline resonance. This allows the distinction of patients with malignant disease from volunteers with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 100%. Therefore, resolution of the composite choline resonance into its constituent components improves the specificity of the in vivo (1)H MRS method, but does not overcome the problem of 20% false-negatives.

Microstrip RF surface coil design for extremely high-field MRI and spectroscopy

A new type of high-frequency RF surface coil was developed for in vivo proton or other nuclei NMR applications at 7T. This is a purely distributed-element and transmission line design. The coil consists of a thin strip conductor (copper or silver) and a ground plane separated by a low-loss dielectric material with a thickness (H). Due to its specific semi-open transmission line structure, substantial electromagnetic energy is stored in the dielectric material between the thin conductor and the ground plane, which results in a reduced radiation loss and a reduced perturbation of sample loading to the RF coil compared to conventional surface coils. The coil is characterized by a high Q factor, no RF shielding, small physical coil size, lower cost, and easy fabrication. A brief theoretical description of the microstrip RF coil is given that can be used to guide the coil designs. A set of gradient-recalled echo images were acquired by using the single- and two-turn microstrip RF surface coils from both phantom and human brain at 7T, which show good penetration and sensitivity. The two-turn coil design significantly improves the B1 symmetry as predicted by the microstrip theory. The optimum H for microstrip surface coils is approximately 7 mm. This coil geometry yields a B1 penetration similar to that of conventional surface coils. SNR comparison was made between the microstrip coil and conventional surface coils with and without RF shielding. The results reveal that the novel surface coil design based on the microstrip concept makes very high-field MRI/MRS more convenient and efficient in research and future clinics.