Dedicated phased-array coil for peripheral MRA

In this paper we introduce a phased-array coil dedicated for MRA of peripheral arteries which covers the upper and lower legs. The structure of this coil includes a solid cabinet with four flexible wings forming a "T." The flexibility of the wings allows aptation to the individual leg size. There are eight particularly polarized channels, four on each side. This coil compatible with other surface coils. For MRA of peripheral arteries, it is combined with the body phased-array coil and the spine array coil which cover the lower abdomen and the pelvis. We examined six patients using this coil combination. The image quality the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) of these examinations were compared with that of peripheral MRA examinations obtained with the body resonator. Image quality with array coil was considerably improved in comparison with the body resonator examinations. The SNR CNR increased approximately 100%, The handling of this coil was very quick and simple, similar the procedure with other surface coils. The use of dedicated phased-array coils for peripheral MRA be an important step toward the establishment MR digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as a non-invasive alternative to intra-arterial DSA in the visualization to be evaluated in future studies.