PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nada, A.
AU  - Cousins, J.P.
AU  - Rivera, A.
AU  - Carr, S.B.
AU  - Jones, J.
AU  - Minor, C.
AU  - Hetherington, H.P.
AU  - Kim, J.H.
AU  - Pan, J.W.
TI  - Imaging the Internal Auditory Canal with an 8 × 2 Transceiver Array Head Coil at 7T
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A8569
DP  - 2025 Mar 27
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2025/03/27/ajnr.A8569.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2025/03/27/ajnr.A8569.full
AB  - 7T neuroimaging has known problems with B1+ strength, homogeneity and B0 susceptibility that make imaging in the inferior brain regions difficult. We investigated the utility of a decoupled 8 × 2 transceiver coil and shim insert to image the internal auditory canal (IAC) and inferior brain in comparison to the standard Nova 8/32 coil. B1+, B0, and the T2 sampling perfection with application-optimized contrasts by using flip angle evolution sequence (SPACE) were compared by using research and standard methods in n = 8 healthy adults by using a Terra system. A T2 TSE was also acquired, and 2 neuroradiologists evaluated structures in and around the IAC, blinded to the acquisition, by using a 5-point Likert scale. The Nova 8/32 coil gave lower B1+ inferiorly compared with the whole brain while the transceiver maintained similar B1+ throughout. SPACE images showed that the transceiver performed significantly better, e.g., the transceiver scored 4.0 ± 0.8 in the left IAC, compared with 2.5 ± 0.8 with the Nova 8/32. With T2-weighted imaging that places a premium on refocusing pulses, these results show that with improved B1+ performance inferiorly, good visualization of the structure of the IAC and inferior brain regions is possible at 7T.IACinternal auditory canalpTxparallel transmitRFradiofrequencySARspecific absorption rateSPACEsampling perfection with application-optimized contrasts by using flip angle evolutionVHOSvery high order B0 shim