A 20 Coil Array System for Parallel Imaging-Accelerated Multiple Mouse MRI

Introduction The reduction of MRI acquisition time by parallel imaging (PI) with phased array coils has standardized the inclusion of multichannel receivers in modern clinical systems. Dedicated small-animal research systems have also provided an increasing number of receiver channels in recent years. For small-animal MRI, the use of multichannel receivers permits not only PI-accelerated acquisitions of a single subject [1], but also improving throughput by simultaneously scanning several animals at once [2]. This is particularly important to reduce MRI usage cost, because scanning many animals is often required to achieve adequate statistical power. To date, the common methodology for multiple-mouse MRI has been to dedicate an independent volume coil to each mouse and to increase the number of mice scanned at once, N, to improve throughput [3]. However, many routine mouse imaging protocols are relatively short, and as such, the animal preparation time rather than the imaging time can limit study efficiency, particularly for studies involving complicated preparation such as tail vein catheterization. It is therefore important to consider a paradigm shift from imaging as many animals at once to imaging a more manageable number with higher acceleration per animal [4]. The goal of this work was to simulate and manufacture a throughput-optimized small-animal MRI system that best utilizes the next generation of small animal MRI systems that will be equipped with 16 receiver channels.