The authors describe a system of bilateral mutually coupled receiver coils and its initial clinical use in magnetic resonance imaging of the knees and temporomandibular joints. Switched mutually coupled coils allow bilateral simultaneous imaging of paired structures without a penalty in signal-to-noise ratio because the coils can be alternated with each section acquisition. With this coil system, there is no restriction on placement or design of coils to prevent interaction. When combined with three-dimensional imaging techniques, switched coils allow simultaneous bilateral acquisition of multiple, contiguous sections through paired anatomic structures in a reasonable amount of imaging time.
