A Preliminary Study for Reference RF Coil at 11.7 T MRI: Based on Electromagnetic Field Simulation of Hybrid-BC RF Coil According to Diameter and Length at 3.0, 7.0 and 11.7 T

A New Combination of Radio-Frequency Coil Configurations Using High-Permittivity Materials and Inductively Coupled Structures for Ultrahigh-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In ultrahigh-field (UHF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the RF power required to excite the nuclei of the target object increases. As the strength of the main magnetic field (B0 field) increases, the improvement of the RF transmit field (B1+ field) efficiency and receive field (B1- field) sensitivity of radio-frequency (RF) coils is essential to reduce their specific absorption rate and power deposition in UHF MRI. To address these problems, we previously proposed a method to simultaneously improve the B1+ field efficiency and B1- field sensitivity of 16-leg bandpass birdcage RF coils (BP-BC RF coils) by combining a multichannel wireless RF element (MCWE) and segmented cylindrical high-permittivity material (scHPM) comprising 16 elements in 7.0 T MRI. In this work, we further improved the performance of transmit/receive RF coils. A new combination of RF coil with wireless element and HPM was proposed by comparing the BP-BC RF coil with the MCWE and the scHPM proposed in the previous study and the multichannel RF coils with a birdcage RF coil-type wireless element (BCWE) and the scHPM proposed in this study. The proposed 16-ch RF coils with the BCWE and scHPM provided excellent B1+ field efficiency and B1- field sensitivity improvement.

Simulation Study of Radio Frequency Safety and the Optimal Size of a Single-Channel Surface Radio Frequency Coil for Mice at 9.4 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The optimized size of a single-channel surface radio frequency (RF) coil for mouse body images in a 9.4 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system was determined via electromagnetic-field analysis of the signal depth according to the size of a single-channel coil. The single-channel surface RF coils used in electromagnetic field simulations were configured to operate in transmission/reception mode at a frequency of 9.4 T–400 MHz. Computational analysis using the finite-difference time-domain method was used to assess the single-channel surface RF coil by comparing single-channel surface RF coils of varying sizes in terms of |B₁|-, |B₁⁺|-, |B₁⁻|- and |E|-field distribution. RF safety for the prevention of burn injuries to small animals was assessed using an analysis of the specific absorption rate. A single-channel surface RF coil with a 20 mm diameter provided optimal B₁-field distribution and RF safety, thus confirming that single-channel surface RF coils with ≥25 mm diameter could not provide typical B₁-field distribution. A single-channel surface RF coil with a 20 mm diameter for mouse body imaging at 9.4 T MRI was recommended to preserve the characteristics of single-channel surface RF coils, and ensured that RF signals were applied correctly to the target point within RF safety guidelines.