Rapid development of application-specific flexible MRI receive coils

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Biomedical Engineering
• Radiologic Technology

Background:

• Phased array coil technology has advanced significantly over 30 years, increasing channel density and parallel imaging capabilities.
• Current rigid receiver array coils often do not conform well to patient anatomy, potentially compromising signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
• Existing flexible coils offer limited conformability and are not optimized for parallel imaging performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a 15-channel flexible foot and ankle MRI coil.
• To demonstrate rapid prototyping of patient-specific coils using highly decoupled elements.
• To evaluate the performance of the novel flexible coil in terms of SNR and g-factor.

Main Methods:

• Designed and constructed a 15-channel flexible coil array using highly decoupled radio-frequency (RF) elements.
• Evaluated coil performance through signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and g-factor measurements.
• Conducted in vivo testing on a healthy volunteer, comparing the 15-channel coil with a commercial 8-channel foot coil.

Main Results:

• The developed flexible coil demonstrated rapid design and prototyping capabilities for application-specific needs.
• Highly decoupled elements facilitated easy adaptation for different patient sizes (adult vs. child).
• In vivo testing showed image quality comparable to a commercially available RF coil.

Conclusions:

• The novel 15-channel flexible foot and ankle coil offers a promising solution for improved anatomical conformity and rapid prototyping.
• The design's highly decoupled elements enable efficient development of patient-specific MRI coils.
• This technology has the potential to enhance MRI performance for foot and ankle imaging across diverse patient populations.