This completed project explored Metabolic MRI in human extremities (financial support by FET-Launchpad EU).

Dedicated RF coil setups have been designed for sodium, phosphorus, deuterium and hydrogen detection in human muscle and knee.

Deuterium and Hydrogen RF coil setup composed of a 4 channel 2H transceiver array and 8 channel 1H transceiver array.  (see: Gursan A, Froeling M, Hendriks AD, Welting D, Kentgens APM, Klomp DWJ, Prompers JJ. Residual quadrupolar couplings observed in 7 Tesla deuterium MR spectra of skeletal muscle. Magn Reson Med. 2022 Mar;87(3):1165-1173. doi: 10.1002/mrm.29053. Epub 2021 Oct 17. PMID: 34657308.)

The receivers were shaped to match the curvatures of the legs so to maximize sensitivity. Moreover, the 31P receivers (array of loops) were merged to the 1H antenna transceivers. (results, see: Froeling M, Prompers JJ, Klomp DWJ, van der Velden TA. PCA denoising and Wiener deconvolution of 31 P 3D CSI data to enhance effective SNR and improve point spread function. Magn Reson Med. 2021 Jun;85(6):2992-3009. doi: 10.1002/mrm.28654. Epub 2021 Feb 1. PMID: 33522635; PMCID: PMC7986807)

(see: Brinkhof S, Froeling M, Janssen RPA, Ito K, Klomp DWJ. Can sodium MRI be used as a method for mapping of cartilage stiffness? MAGMA. 2021 Jun;34(3):327-336. doi: 10.1007/s10334-020-00893-x. Epub 2020 Nov 12. PMID: 33180225; PMCID: PMC8154796)