Shielded transceiver RF coil array for simultaneous PET-MRI

The complementary information provided by combined MRI-PET modalities promises to facilitate metabolic investigations of complex physiological processes. We developed a radio frequency (RF) coil array that can operate in close proximity (2-mm radial distance) to a miniaturized PET camera insert for simultaneous PET-MRI of a rat brain at high magnetic fields (4 Tesla). All ferromagnetic components in the PET instrument were replaced with non-ferromagnetic components to minimize susceptibility artefacts in MRI, and optical fibres were used to connect the electronics of the PET camera to the acqu...