Patent ID: 8773131

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, comprising: an RF coil having a coil element group forming at least a first combination of a figure-eight coil and a first loop coil arranged at center of the figure-eight coil, and a second combination of the first loop coil, a second loop coil partially overlaid on one side of the first loop coil and a third loop coil partially overlaid on the other side of the first loop coil; at least one first signal transmitting path for selectively transmitting a signal to and from the first combination; at least one second signal transmitting path for selectively transmitting a signal to and from the second combination; and at least one path switching unit connected to the first signal transmitting path and the second signal transmitting path for selectively switching between the first signal transmitting path and the second signal transmitting path so that the signal is received and/or transmitted with the first combination or the second combination, wherein each loop of two loops of the figure-eight coil, the first loop coil, the second loop coil and the third loop coil are aligned along a direction.