Improved signal-to-noise ratio performance in magnetic resonance imaging by using a multilayered surface coil...

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Electrical Engineering
• Physics

Background:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) relies on surface coil arrays for signal reception.
• Mutual coupling between coil elements in multilayered arrays degrades signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
• Effective decoupling methods are crucial for optimizing multilayered coil performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and investigate a novel multilayered surface coil array for MRI.
• To demonstrate an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance.
• To validate the proposed design through numerical simulations.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multilayered surface coil array design.
• Implementation of an effective decoupling technique to mitigate mutual coupling.
• Conducting rigorous numerical simulations to analyze performance.

Main Results:

• The decoupling method successfully eliminated strong mutual coupling between coil layers.
• Coherent signal combination from individual coils was achieved.
• Received signal power increased with the number of coil layers.
• Noise power increased at a slower rate than signal power, leading to a net SNR improvement.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multilayered surface coil array offers enhanced SNR performance for MRI.
• The effective decoupling strategy is key to achieving improved signal reception.
• Numerical simulations confirm the efficacy and scalability of the design for advanced MRI applications.