RF Coils for Parallel MRI/MRS in vivo at High Fields

用于高场体内并行 MRI/MRS 的射频线圈

• 批准号: 6976922
• 负责人: XIAOLIANG ZHANG
• 金额: $ 32.62万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-15 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6976922
• 关键词: bioimaging /biomedical imaging; biomedical equipment development; clinical research; human subject; image enhancement; magnetic field; magnetic resonance imaging; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; radiowave radiation

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): High and ultra-high field (3-9.4 Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy (MRI/MRS) has been proven to be fundamentally advantageous due to their intrinsically high sensitivity. Recently, with the advent of new reconstruction algorithms such as SENSE and SMASH, parallel imaging, a fast imaging technique introduced some 20 years ago has been revived and has become practical and robust. This technique can dramatically reduce the minimum data acquisition time without sacrificing sensitivity. A technique combining parallel imaging with high-field MR is desired and will be ideal because it possesses both the advantages of fast acquisition time and high sensitivity. However, due to high operating frequencies at high fields, both parallel imaging and high-field MR confront RF coil design challenges such as increased radiation losses, difficult to achieve coil decoupling, increased coil/subject interactions, and complicated design and operation. These challenges have become a major obstacle for further development of parallel imaging at high fields. Therefore, we propose a comprehensive project in this application based on our newly developed microstrip transmission line (MTL) coil design concept. The major goals will be focused on (i) development of a wide variety of efficient high-frequency RF coil arrays for in-vivo high-field parallel imaging using the MTL concept; and (ii) the establishment of a simulation, modeling a wide variety of parallel MTL coil arrays for the analysis of resonant frequencies, decoupling and B1 and E fields, numerically. The proposed coil arrays are characterized by unmatched advantages of (i) a completely distributed circuit design, (ii) a high Q factor and better sensitivity, (iii) unique and efficient decoupling mechanisms, and (iv) simple and compact coil design, with easy fabrication and low cost. Successful outcomes from this research will provide a robust solution to RF coil array designs for parallel imaging at high fields and result in significant technological advances in high-field RF coil array engineering. They will be important to the future success of in vivo high-field parallel MRI/MRS.

描述(由申请人提供)： 高场和超高场(3-9.4特斯拉)磁共振成像和波谱(MRI/MRS)由于其固有的高灵敏度已被证明具有根本优势。最近，随着SENSE、SMASH、并行成像等新的重建算法的出现，20多年前引入的一种快速成像技术重新焕发生机，变得实用和健壮。这种技术可以在不牺牲灵敏度的情况下极大地减少最小数据采集时间。一种将平行成像和高场磁共振相结合的技术是理想的，因为它既具有采集时间快的优点，又具有高灵敏度的优点。然而，由于高场下的高工作频率，并行成像和高场磁共振都面临着射频线圈设计的挑战，如辐射损耗增加、线圈解耦困难、线圈/被摄体相互作用增加以及复杂的设计和操作。这些挑战已经成为高场并行成像进一步发展的主要障碍。因此，我们基于我们最新开发的微带传输线(MTL)线圈设计概念，在这一应用中提出了一个全面的方案。主要目标将集中在(I)利用MTL概念开发用于体内高场并行成像的各种高效高频RF线圈阵列；以及(Ii)建立模拟，对各种并行MTL线圈阵列进行数值分析，以分析谐振频率、去耦合和B1和E场。所提出的线圈阵列具有以下无可比拟的优点：(1)完全分布式的电路设计；(2)高Q因子和更高的灵敏度；(3)独特而有效的解耦机构；(4)简单紧凑的线圈设计，易于制造和低成本。这项研究的成功成果将为用于高场并行成像的射频线圈阵列设计提供强大的解决方案，并导致高场射频线圈阵列工程的重大技术进步。它们将对体内高场平行磁共振/磁共振成像的未来成功具有重要意义。