To bring metabolic imaging based on multi-NMR toward practical use from the RF hardware perspective. Methods: A highly integrated RF coil is designed for whole-brain MRI and MRS targeted to five nuclear species: 1 H, 19 F, 31 P, 23 Na, and 13 C. Dipole antennas and closely loaded local receiver loops are combined in this setup. Results: High-quality in vivo scan results of 1 H, 31 P, 23 Na, and 13 C on healthy volunteers have been achieved. For 1 H, the transmit efficiency is 77% of a single-tuned commercial head coil (NOVA 8-transmit [Tx]/32-receive [Rx]; NOVA Medical, Wilmington, MA, USA). For 31 P, 110% SNR of a dual-tuned close-fit head-birdcage was achieved at the center of the subject, based on MR experiments on a phantom. For 31 P, 23 Na, and 13 C, bench measurements indicate SNR loss of 15%, 27%, and 30% compared with single-tuned conditions. 19 F performance has been proven to be similar to that of 1 H through bench tests and electromagnetic simulations. Conclusion: With this device, 1 H-based anatomic images that are expected to meet clinical requirements, as well as high-quality multi-NMR images and spectra, can be acquired within one scan session without hardware replacement or patient repositioning, enabling morphologic and metabolic MRI within acceptable scan time.

The 7T operating frequency of 1H and 19F RF transceivers is in far field regime, while for remaining nuclei these are in near-field regime. Consequently, the optimal setup for far field is based on antennas, while for near field these are based on loop coils. Owing to their intrinsic field orthogonality, these setups can be merged with low RF coupling and thus low penalty in efficiency as we demonstrated for a quintuple tuned head coil. Here we show that the design is generalized and can in principle be used for any body part, as demonstrated in brain, breast and extremity.