A Brief Review of Radiofrequency Coils for Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy

Background: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) represents one of the most valuable modalities for the non-invasive diagnosis and characterization of cardiovascular diseases. CMR proton imaging is the state-of-the-art diagnostic tool for myocardial morphology and function evaluation. CMR Spectroscopy is a very powerful tool for exploration of tissue components and metabolism of the myocardium, through the use of nuclei including (1)Hydrogen (H-1), (31)Phosphorus (P-31), (13)Carbon (C-13) and (23)Sodium (Na-23). CMR requires high imaging speed and efficiency, due to the time constraints imposed by cardiac and respiratory motion. Discussion: The availability of dedicated Radio Frequency (RF) coils allows obtaining highly homogeneous field in a wide field of view for transmitter coils and high signal-to-noise ratio for receiver coils. Phased-array coils also make possible parallel imaging, a powerful mean for increasing acquisition speed. Conclusion: The aim of this review is to introduce a classification of cardiac coils, with a particular emphasis on phased-array coils largely used in CMR, and to describe cardiac coils dedicated to CMR spectroscopy. Finally, different strategies for simulation and design of cardiac coils are introduced and described.