A size-adaptive RF coil with integrated NMR field probes for pediatric brain Imaging at 7 T

Motivation: To develop a safe, size-adaptive RF head coil with an integrated commercial field monitoring system for pediatric imaging at 7T MRI. Goal(s): Performance of the size-adaptive RF head coil was quantitatively evaluated and compared to that of a commercial receive adult head coil (Nova Medical). Approach: The coil performance was evaluated at the largest and smallest dimensions of the receive former, with and without integrated field probes. Results: Simulations of transmit coil demonstrated that the coil is safe for pediatric imaging of subjects below 30 kg at 7T. The SNR performance of the coil was comparable to the commercial coil. Impact: The eight channel dipole transmit and 32 channel size-adaptive receive array with integrated 16 NMR commercial field monitoring probes for imaging pediatric (4-9 years old) brain at 7T enables safe and high-quality imaging of subjects below 30 kg at 7T.