An Add-on System for Enabling Simultaneous/Interleaved Multinuclear MRI/MRS Experiments

Motivation: MRI/MRS studies with X-nuclei have seen renewed interest in recent years, especially with the development of hyperpolarization methods and the increasing availability of ultra-high field scanners. Rather than scanning each nucleus sequentially, acquiring time-resolved multinuclear information is desired for many applications, such as dynamic shimming, motion correction, hyperpolarization studies, etc. Goal(s): We propose a system modification to enable a traditional MR system with phase-stable, simultaneous/interleaved multinuclear array receiving capability. Approach: The proposed add-on system consists of multiple transmit and receive mixing channels and a 4-channel flexible LO source. Results: Multinuclear MRI/MRS data were collected with simultaneous/interleaved acquisition. Impact: We propose a cost-effective, phase-stable solution to enable a traditional scanner with simultaneous/interleaved multinuclear capability. This approach eliminates the need for retrospective phase correction, enabling the user to directly view/process the acquired multinuclear data on the console.