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Abstract #3923

Design and Construction of an Actively Frequency-Switchable RF Coil for Fast Field-Cycling Magnetisation Transfer Contrast MRI

Chang-Hoon Choi1, Ioannis Lavdas1, James M. S. Hutchison1, David J. Lurie1

1Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom


An off-resonance RF pre-saturation pulse is typically employed for magnetisation transfer contrast MRI. Measuring the magnetisation transfer (MT) effect as a function of magnetic field (B0) may provide valuable. In order to conduct field-dependent MT experiments, two techniques are required. Firstly, B0 should be switched between levels by fast field-cycling during irradiation of the saturation pulse, and secondly the resonance frequency of the resonator (f0) should also be shifted simultaneously. Here, we constructed the frequency-switchable RF coil using PIN diodes. (f0) is actively switched between five different values, with excellent impendent matching (about -40dB) and the Q-factor (approximately 80).