LOCAL COIL BREAST IMAGING USING SEQUENTIAL PARALLEL IMAGE ACQUISITION

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO INCREASE THE DIAGNOSTIC EFFICACY OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) AS AN ADJUNCTIVE TECHNIQUE IN THE EVALUATION/STAGING OF BREAST LESIONS. OUR APPROACH INVOLVES THREE PRINCIPLE TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS TO EXISTING PROBLEMS WITH MRI TECHNIQUES. IN PHASE I, WE PROPOSE: (1) TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF SEQUENTIAL PARALLEL IMAGE ACQUISITION (SPIA) TECHNIQUES AS A METHOD TO PRODUCE HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES OF THE BREASTSAND AXILLARY LYMPH NODES IN REDUCED TOTAL SCAN TIME. IMPLEMENTATION OF SPIA TECHNIQUES REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL COIL NETWORKS USING FOUR COILS EACH RECEIVING SIGNAL FROM A SINGLE BREAST OR AXILLARY NODE CHAIN. (FIG. 1) (2) LOCAL COIL DESIGN PRINCIPLES DEVELOPED IN CONNECTION WITH THE LOOP GAP RESONATOR WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE THE UNIFORM EXCITATION AND RECEPTION FIELDS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION OF FAT SUPPRESSION, CHEMICAL SHIFT AND CONTRAST OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES; INCREASE THE IMAGE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO IN EACH REGION OF INTEREST; AND IMPROVE RESOLUTION BY DECREASING THE GRADIENT FIELD OF VIEW REGION OF SENSITIVITY. (3) PATIENT POSITIONING ISSUES NECESSARY FOR ENHANCED PATIENT ACCEPTANCEOF THE MRI BREAST EXAM WILL BE IDENTIFIED. THE TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS WILL BE DIRECTED TOWARDS AND EVALUATED IN REGARD TO SPECIFIC MEDICAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIAGNOSIS AND STAGING OF BREAST LESIONS IDENTIFIED BY CLINICAL EXPERTS.