MR-monitored focused ultrasound using the acoustic-coupling water bath as an intrinsic high-mode dielectric resonator

The conventional set-up for MR-monitored focused ultrasound surgery includes a piezoelectric transducer and an acoustic-coupling water bath integrated into the MR patient table; a large surface RF coil is placed close to the patient or, alternatively, the body coil is used as the MR receiver. Potential disadvantages of this approach are that the body coil has low sensitivity because of its low filling factor and the local RF coil can interfere with and cause reflections of the ultrasound irradiation. In this article, a completely new approach is presented, in which an MR transmit/receive coil is not needed at all. Instead, the dimensions of the water bath are adjusted so that a high-order dielectric mode is excited, resulting in efficient MR excitation and reception at the transducer focal point. An example of monitoring ultrasound-mediated heating in a phantom is shown on a 7-T human system, although the new method can also be applied at lower fields.