SNR and Parallel Imaging Improvements Offered by a 32 Channel Head Coil Design Advanced head coil design with 3 T imaging substantially improves the available signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), making possible a significant reduction in scan time, the use of advanced parallel imaging, high spatial resolution imaging (reduced voxel size in 3D acquisitions, whether for imaging of the brain itself or the vasculature) and implementation of innovative imaging techniques. The use of higher parallel imaging factors in conventional diffusion-weighted echoplanar imaging (EPI), together with the implementation of a fast spin echo (FSE) based BLADE diffusion-weighted scan is illustrated in patients with acute infarction (the latter free of bulk susceptibility artifact and geometric image distortion). [...]