Coils for magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging of human breast
View Patent ↗System(s) and method(s) for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) are provided. A unified heteronuclear coil system includes a volume coil tuned to detect a first nuclei and a butterfly coil tuned to detect a second nuclei for simultaneous detection of both the first nuclei and the second nuclei signals from human breast tissue and perform MRIS. First nuclei and second nuclei each include 1 H, 13 C, 31 P, 23 Na, and 19 F. The heteronuclear coil system affords detection of NMR-detectable chemicals specific to cancerous breast tissue to improve breast cancer diagnostic specificity. Adjustment of the heteronuclear coil system to detect various nuclei, combined with a specific pulse excitation sequence, facilitates chemical analysis that provides for chemical discrimination and characterization of compounds present in cancerous and other breast tissue as well as healthy breast physiology.
1. A coil system for detection in a magnetic resonance apparatus, the coil system comprising:
a butterfly coil tuned for excitation and detection of a first type of nuclei at a magnetic field, wherein the butterfly coil generates a first homogeneous B 1 field;
a volume coil tuned for excitation and detection of a second type of nuclei at the magnetic field, wherein the volume coil is attached to the butterfly coil, wherein the volume coil generates a second homogeneous B 1 field, wherein the second homogeneous B 1 field is perpendicular to the first homogeneous B 1 field; and
at least one of single-tune or double-tune inductive-capacitive circuitry that facilitates, at least in part, to tune the butterfly coil and the volume coil.
2. The coil system of claim 1 , the butterfly coil comprises one of a single loop wired into a butterfly shape or two loops, each loop with a rectangular section with a major side and a minor side, wherein each loop includes one or more loops.
3. The coil system of claim 1 , the volume coil comprises a plurality of parallel loops arranged in geometry with C ∞ symmetry about an axis that pierces one of the loops through its center.
4. The coil system of claim 3 , wherein the two or more loops in the plurality of loops are equally spaced along the symmetry axis.
5. The coil system of claim 3 , wherein the magnetic field determines a number of segments in which each loop is segmented, the segments electrically connected with one or more capacitors.
6. The coil system of claim 1 , wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil have resonant frequencies equal, respectively, to the Larmor frequencies of the first type of nuclei and the second type of nuclei at a 1.5 T or greater magnetic field.
7. The coil system of claim 6 , wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil have resonant frequencies equal, respectively, to the Larmor frequencies of the first type of nuclei and the second type of nuclei at a 7 T or greater magnetic field.
8. The coil system of claim 1 , wherein the butterfly coil has a resonant frequency equal to a Larmor frequency of at least one of 1 H, 13 C, 19 F, 23 Na, or 31 P.
9. The coil system of claim 8 , wherein the volume coil has a resonant frequency equal to the Larmor frequency of at least one of 1 H, 13 C, 19 F, 23 Na, or 31 P.
10. The coil system of claim 1 , wherein the butterfly coil has a tuning circuit comprising two or more variable capacitors.
11. The coil system of claim 1 , wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil are tuned to detect in disparate radio frequency channels.
12. A system that facilitates chemical analysis of an image object in a magnetic resonance apparatus, the system comprising:
a heteronuclear coil system component that provides excitation and detection of a first type of nuclei at a magnetic field, wherein the heteronuclear coil system comprises a butterfly outer coil that comprises at least a first loop and a second loop, wherein the first loop and the second loop are configured to be attached to surround the image object, wherein the butterfly outer coil generates a first homogeneous B 1 field, and wherein the butterfly outer coil provides excitation and detection of a second type of nuclei at the magnetic field, wherein the heteronuclear coil system comprises a volume inner coil, wherein the volume inner coil generates a second homogeneous B 1 field, and wherein the second homogeneous B 1 field is perpendicular to the first homogeneous B 1 field; and
a radio frequency (RF) excitation and detection component that drives the heteronuclear coil system and detects a signal there from, wherein the RF excitation and detection component includes at least one of single-tune or multi-tune inductive-capacitive circuitry.
13. The system of claim 12 , the heteronuclear coil system component further detects a concentration of at least one chemical associated with a soft tissue disease.
14. The system of claim 12 , the butterfly outer coil and the volume inner coils have, respectively, resonant frequencies equal to the Larmor frequency of the first and second types of nuclei at a magnetic field of at least 1.5 T.
15. The system of claim 14 , the butterfly outer coil and the volume inner coils have, respectively, resonant frequencies equal to the Larmor frequency of the first and second types of nuclei at a magnetic field of at least 7 T.
16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first type of nuclei is the same as the second type of nuclei.
17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first type of nuclei is distinct from the second type of nuclei.