Uniform prostate imaging and spectroscopy at 7T: comparison between a stripline array and an endorectal coil

Introduction Over the past couple of years, high field imaging is slowly expanding from the head to extremities and the body. A target of particular interest is the prostate, because of the high incidence of prostate cancer and the expected increase in diagnostic capabilities. One of the problems in imaging the prostate is the limited penetration depth of the RF signal, resulting in high power demand and subsequently high SAR deposition. Several concepts for RF coil designs have been proposed and realized. In this study, we evaluate two designs with the most potential: an 8-element stripline array and an endorectal coil. After simulating the SAR levels of both coils, we compare the suitability of both coils for three MR scanning sequences that are commonly used for prostate cancer diagnostics: A T1w FFE sequence, a T2w TSE sequence and a spectroscopy exam.