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Abstract #0429

An Open Faced 4 Ch. Loop Transmit / 16-Ch. Receive Array Coil for HiRes FMRI at 7 Tesla

Gregor Adriany1, Matt Waks2, Brandon Tramm2, Scott Schillak2, Essa Yacoub1, Federico de Martino, 13, Pierre-Francois Van de Moortele1, Thomas Naselaris1, Cheryl Olman1, Tommy Vaughan1, Kamil Ugurbil1

1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 2Virtumed LLC, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 3Maastricht University, Netherlands


Utilizing rapid prototyping for an open-faced holder design a 4 channel loop transmit /16 channel receive array coil was built. The coil operates inside a spatially constrictive head gradient insert but still supports full visual field task presentation. The design is particularly suitable for visual, occipital and auditory cortex neuroscience applications. The coil did not require subject dependent tuning or matching, saving valuable setup time. Significant improvements in transmit efficiency and SNR over comparable whole head arrays were observed.