A Dual Resonator System For Whole-Body Sodium-MRI At 3T

Friedrich Wetterling¹, Andre Rennings², Raffi Kalayciyan¹, Dominique M. Corteville¹, Simon Konstandin¹, Lothar R. Schad¹

An asymmetric birdcage resonator was integrated into the 3T MRI system and tested in conjunction with a receive-only surface coil for human Na MRI. An up to date unseen B1 homogeneity was demonstrated by the possibility to acquire the world-wide first whole body 23Na image of a male human being. Furthermore, a two-fold SNR benefit of the dual resonator system over a state-of-the-art double-tuned 1H/23Na quadrature birdcage resonator was measured on the example of a human brain scan.