Comparison between 8- and 32-channel phased-array receive coils for in vivo hyperpolarized ¹³ C imaging of the human brain

Purpose: To compare the performance of an 8-channel surface coil/clamshell transmitter and 32-channel head array coil/birdcage transmitter for hyperpolarized ¹³ C brain metabolic imaging.

Methods: To determine the field homogeneity of the radiofrequency transmitters, B₁ + mapping was performed on an ethylene glycol head phantom and evaluated by means of the double angle method. Using a 3D echo-planar imaging sequence, coil sensitivity and noise-only phantom data were acquired with the 8- and 32-channel receiver arrays, and compared against data from the birdcage in transceiver mode. Multislice frequency-specific ¹³ C dynamic echo-planar imaging was performed on a patient with a brain tumor for each hardware configuration following injection of hyperpolarized [1-¹³ C]pyruvate. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was evaluated from pre-whitened phantom and temporally summed patient data after coil combination based on optimal weights.

Results: The birdcage transmitter produced more uniform B₁ + compared with the clamshell: 0.07 versus 0.12 (fractional error). Phantom experiments conducted with matched lateral housing separation demonstrated 8- versus 32-channel mean transceiver-normalized SNR performance: 0.91 versus 0.97 at the head center; 6.67 versus 2.08 on the sides; 0.66 versus 2.73 at the anterior; and 0.67 versus 3.17 on the posterior aspect. While the 8-channel receiver array showed SNR benefits along lateral aspects, the 32-channel array exhibited greater coverage and a more uniform coil-combined profile. Temporally summed, parameter-normalized patient data showed SNR_mean,slice ratios (8-channel/32-channel) ranging 0.5-2.00 from apical to central brain. White matter lactate-to-pyruvate ratios were conserved across hardware: 0.45 ± 0.12 (8-channel) versus 0.43 ± 0.14 (32-channel).

Conclusion: The 8- and 32-channel hardware configurations each have advantages in particular brain anatomy.