A Novel 8-Channel 31P/1H DODO Transceiver Array for Human Brain Imaging and Performance Comparison with 31P/1H TEM Volume Coil at 7T

Motivation: 31P MRSI provides a valuable tool for metabolic imaging of human brain, and is crucial for studying neuroenergetics and neurological diseases, however, faces the low SNR challenge. Goal(s): To construct a dual-tuned 8-channel 31P/1H transceiver array head coil with excellent performance for both proton structural MRI and 31P MRSI at 7T. Approach: We constructed an 8-ch 31P/1H transceiver array coil based on the novel double tuned and double matched (DODO) coil element, and compared its performance with the 31P/1H TEM volume coil. Results: The 8-ch 31P/1H transceiver array coil shows significantly higher performance compared to 31P/1H TEM volume coil. Impact: We developed an 8-ch 31P/1H transceiver array coil with excellent performance based on the DODO coil design. This technology has broad applications for in vivo human brain 31P MRSI studies and can be adapted to other multinuclear array coil designs.