Endorectal Combined Surface Array for Prostate Imaging at 7T

Gregory J. Metzger¹, Steen Moeller¹, Carl J. Snyder¹, Kamil Ugurbil¹, Pierre-Francois van de Moortele¹, Gregor Adriany¹

Optimal RF coils must be developed for 7T prostate imaging if the promise of increased spatial, temporal and spectral resolution are to be realized. We previously demonstrated the tradeoffs between an external 16 channel transceive stripline array coil and a transceive endorectal coil. The focus of this abstract is on the development and characterization of a new receive-only ERC (roERC) combined with the previously reported transceiver external stripline array. Along with increased SNR and consistent contrast over the prostate, the combined coil allows for better parallel imaging performance and visualization of important structures close to the endorectal coil.