High resolution mouse imaging using a liquid nitrogen cooled receive only coil on a 3T clinical scanner (original) (raw)

2010

Abstract

Introduction There is an interest in studying small animals using high field whole body scanners equipped with standard clinical protocols. High quality RF coils are required to achieve micron scale high resolution imaging of small rodents. Cooling of a copper RF coil with liquid nitrogen (LN) will greatly reduce the thermal noise and improves its SNR performance by 2 fold at 77K [1]. However designing a non-magnetic cryostat suitable for in-vivo small animal imaging is not an easy task. The requirements of providing good insulation between the cooled coil and sample, close coupling of coil to sample and providing a suitable platform for monitoring and handling small rodents are the major challenges. In this work, a novel PTFE cryostat design achieves good insulation which provides ease of use and is suitable for small rodents is proposed. A receive only cooled cooper coil is developed for a 3T MR scanner, and its low temperature performance is compared to that at room temperature.

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