Dedicated high-performance head coil for large-field-of-view MR angiography

MR angiography (MRA) of head and neck can be performed as an add-on study within imaging times of 10-20 minutes. Head coils usually cannot cover the carotids down to the aortic arch. This paper reports that this in this study MR angiograms were acquired covering the neck and brain with one coil and compared to separated examinations. A prototype MRA coil was used to acquire MR angiograms on volunteers using 2D and 3D time-of-flight methods. The coil is an elongated CP head resonator with large coverage down to the thoracic region, high S/N, and homogeneity within 450 mm FOV in head-feet direction. High-quality MR angiograms of the arch to the syphon were obtained using 3D volume as well as 2D sequential acquisitions with travelling presaturation. Axial studies of the intracranial arteries with 3D TOF show slightly reduced S/N compared to CP head examinations