Low field Breast and Chest Wall Imaging for MR guided Proton Therapy

The use of low field MRI guidance in proton therapy is a new area of research especially during treatment of breast cancer. In this study, we optimized and constructed five different breast/chest RF coils at low field as proof of concept for a future MR guided proton therapy system design. Different coil shapes and sizes were tested. Organs-at-Risk (OAR) and different anatomical regions were optimized for imaging. Using the five coils, phantom images were acquired at 6.5 mT and MR signal across slices were compared to the calculated optimized B1 field homogeneity. Human breast imaging was also carried out.