Patent ID: 8610435

Claim:
A coil for use with a magnetic resonance (MR) system for obtaining images or spectra of a region of interest, the coil comprising: (a) an outer loop having a first end and a second end formed from a conductive material for detecting MR signals oriented vertical to a plane of the coil, the outer loop comprising a plurality of capacitors therein including: (i) a first drive capacitor and a second drive capacitor of approximately equal value serially deployed within the outer loop at the first end of the outer loop with a junction node therebetween; and (ii) a third drive capacitor and a fourth drive capacitor serially deployed within the outer loop at the second end of the outer loop with a junction node therebetween; (b) a first center conductor extending between and evenly bisecting the junction nodes of the outer loop, the first center conductor having two capacitors symmetrically deployed along its length; and (c) a second center conductor extending perpendicular to the first center conductor and evenly bisecting the outer loop, the second center conductor having two capacitors symmetrically deployed along its length, wherein the first center conductor and the second center conductor form four subloops within the outer loop, such that output from each of the four subloops is received in an interface device connectable to the coil by a first output line connected across the first and the second drive capacitors and a second output line connected across the third and the fourth drive capacitors, and switching circuitry in the interface device is configurable to selectively ignore or detect output from at least one of the four subloops, thereby allowing a scanner coupled to the interface device to produce images in at least four different modes in a single imaging procedure.