Optimization of printed coil arrays for microscopic imaging and spectroscopy

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) microscopic imaging and spectroscopy may prove to be a potential tool for monitoring the development of breast tumors grown in rats. In order to monitor the various stages of the tumor´s growth a dedicated RF coil must be designed to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) throughout an appropriate region. This study describes the optimization of a radio-frequency (RF) coil array for microscopic imaging. Experimental and theoretical results have been obtained for different configurations of single planar microcoil elements and utilized for distinguishing their optimal parameters. A comparison of the calculated SNRs obtained from a conventional NMR coil versus the different optimal planar microcoils showed that the SNR of the conventional coil is significantly lower than that of the microcoils at a shallow imaging depth. These results indicate that for objects requiring a shallow field-of-view (FOV), printed circuit array coils will provide improved SNR over single coils for microimaging with no increase in data collection time