Combination of Phased-Array Coil Signals in Localized 2D Correlated Spectroscopy: Artifacts and Remedies

Gaurav Verma¹, Nagarajan Rajakumar, Aparna Singhal, Scott Logan Lipnick, Michael Albert Thomas

Conventional combination of phased-array coils can result in loss of phase information when post-processing two-dimensional spectroscopic data and the generation of multiple artificial parallel diagonals that overwhelm any off-diagonal signals. Two novel coil combination schemes that preserve phase information have been developed and tested using a variety of coils in both phantom and in vivo scans. These schemes have been proven effective in combining signals from multiple coils while avoiding phase loss and parallel diagonals. Data showing a single diagonal has been zero-phased to confirm the loss of phase information as the source of these parallel diagonal artifacts.