7T MRI Head Coil Performance Comparison in Six Volunteers

Carina Graf's research article compares the 1Tx32Rx and 8Tx32Rx head coils for 7T neuroimaging. The study analyzes data from six healthy volunteers across seven MRI sequences, including B0/B1+ mapping, MP2RAGE, R2*-mapping, MRS, EPI time series, and DTI. It concludes that the 8Tx32Rx coil provides comparable or improved data quality for standard protocols.

Use Cases

• Compare B1+ field maps from the 1Tx32Rx and 8Tx32Rx coils to assess signal uniformity in inferior brain regions.
• Analyze MP2RAGE anatomical images to evaluate spinal cord visibility in the cervical spine between the two coil types.
• Use single-voxel spectroscopy (MRS) data to compare signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements in the brainstem.
• Process diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data to examine differences in fitted white matter tract definition.
• Assess echo-planar imaging (EPI) time series data quality for both coils in functional MRI contexts.

Strengths

• Direct comparison of two commercially available 7T MRI head coils (1Tx32Rx vs. 8Tx32Rx).
• Evaluation across seven distinct and widely-used neuroimaging sequences.
• Data collected from six healthy volunteers on a single 7T MAGNETOM Terra system for controlled comparison.
• Published under a permissive CC BY 4.0 license.

Limitations

• Very small sample size of only six volunteers limits statistical power and generalizability.
• Data is presented in a static PDF report (735.7 KB), not as raw, analyzable imaging data.
• Study performed on a single vendor's MRI system (Siemens), so findings may not fully generalize to Philips or GE 7T systems.

Provenance

Source

Carina Graf via figshare.

Collection Method

MRI scans of six healthy volunteers on a Siemens MAGNETOM Terra 7T system, comparing two head coils across seven sequences.

Freshness

Last updated March 25, 2026.