Beyond Standard MRI Radio Frequency Detectors and Arrays for High Field and High Density Applications

这项研究计划旨在推进射频(RF)探测器“线圈”和磁共振成像(MRI)系统的技术。在NSERC资助的过去五年里，我在阿尔伯塔大学建立了一个新的实验室，我们发现了独特的技术解决方案，将提高磁共振图像的质量和获取速度。我们将首先通过实验验证这些方法，构建使用和不使用新技术的RF线圈版本，并比较结果。**实现MRI速度和图像质量改进的另一种方法是使MRI所基于的大型磁铁更加强大。然而，随着磁场的增加，在没有明暗区域的情况下产生图像变得更加困难，这使得放射科医生更难解释它们。在最强的磁场(7特斯拉或更高)下，成像身体的大片区域和器官，如肠道，变得难以处理。在艾伯塔大学，我们有一个中等强度的磁铁(4.7特斯拉)，它比医院常规使用的最强磁铁(3特斯拉)更强，并将通过射频发射器技术(由CFI资助)进行升级，允许调整图像的亮和暗区域，以获得最佳的一致性。这是在4.7特斯拉时从未做过的，它允许我们在这个中等磁场强度下探索身体成像。我们将通过对模仿人体的模型进行模拟和测量，开发针对这种磁场强度进行优化的射频“天线”。**这项研究计划还旨在为将安装在埃德蒙顿癌症医院的PET-MRI系统(也是由CFI资助的)设计优化的射频线圈。正电子发射断层扫描(PET)用于在患者注射放射性示踪剂后识别肿瘤。然而，用于机器核磁共振部分的射频线圈会干扰PET探测器获取的读数。我们的目标是通过使用新的、更薄的材料使射频线圈对PET尽可能“透明”来消除这种干扰。

This research program aims to advance the technology of radio frequency (RF) detector "coils" and systems for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During the past five years of NSERC funding I have established a new lab at the University of Alberta and we have discovered unique technical solutions that will improve the quality and acquisition speed of MR images. We will begin by verifying these approaches experimentally by building versions of RF coils with and without the new technologies and comparing the results.**Another way to achieve improvements in MRI speed and image quality is to make the large magnets on which MRI is based much stronger. However, as the magnetic field increases it becomes more difficult to produce images without bright and dark areas that make them harder to interpret by radiologists. At the strongest magnetic fields (7 tesla or more) imaging large areas and organs of the body such as the gut becomes intractable. At the University of Alberta we have an intermediate strength magnet (4.7 tesla), which is stronger than the strongest ones used routinely in hospitals (3 tesla) and will be upgraded with RF transmitter technology (funded by CFI) that allows the bright and dark areas of the images to be adjusted for the best uniformity. This has never been done at 4.7 tesla and it allows us to explore body imaging at this intermediate magnetic field strength. We will develop RF "antennas" optimized for this field strength by using simulations and measurements on phantoms that mimic the body.**This research program also aims to design RF coils that are optimized for the PET-MRI system (also funded by CFI) that will be installed in Edmonton's cancer hospital. Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to identify tumors after the patient is injected with a radioactive tracer. However, the RF coils used for the MRI part of the machine interfere with the readings taken by the PET detectors. We aim to eliminate this interference by making the RF coils as "transparent" as possible to the PET by using new, thinner materials.