Comparison of commercial 1Tx32Rx vs 8Tx32Rx head coils for routine 7T neuroimaging

Human 7T MRI systems are manufactured by three vendors (Siemens, Philips, and GE) who all provide equivalent head coils from the same 3rd party manufacturer. Furthermore, many 7T MRI sites have two head coils available for neuroimaging: a 1Tx32Rx head coil for conventional single-channel transmit imaging and an 8Tx32Rx head coil for parallel-transmit (pTx) imaging. We compared the performance of these coils in six healthy volunteers. All scans were done on a 7T MRI (MAGNETOM Terra, Siemens, Germany). We tested seven sequences in wide use at our centre: B0 and B1+ mapping, anatomical T1-weighted MP2RAGE, R2*-mapping, single-voxel spectroscopy (MRS), echo-planar imaging time series, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Sequences were run unmodified and without any pTx pulses. Data quality is comparable for both coils. The 8Tx32Rx coil had improved B1+ in inferior brain regions, enhanced spinal cord visibility in the cervical spine on anatomical MP2RAGE, higher SNR in MRS of the brainstem, and more defined fitted white matter tracts in the DTI images. All sequences showed acceptable data quality with the 8Tx32Rx coil. It is reasonable to substitute the 8Tx32Rx coil for the 1Tx32Rx coil for standard neuroimaging protocols. This will enable advanced parallel transmit sequences to be added to protocols with minimal disruption.