Initial clinical evaluation of a 60-channel small loop receive coil array for high-resolution pediatric MRI

Motivation: Commercial MRI coils typically offer suboptimal parallel imaging and SNR performance for young children. Goal(s): Construct & evaluate the clinical feasibility of using a highly flexible receive array with small coil loops to image the pediatric chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Approach: Nine patients were scanned with the investigational coil and 9 age- and anatomy-matched control patients were identified. Qualitative grading of image quality metrics was performed by two radiologists. Results: The investigational coil achieves similar image quality to standard coils. Protocol modification to leverage optimal coil geometry is needed. Impact: This work provides initial clinical feasibility on using a small-loop receive coil array for imaging of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Diagnostic image quality was obtained in all cases, indicating the small element size is feasible in clinical use.