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Meng Y, Mo Z, Hao J, Peng Y, Yan H, Mu J, Ma D, Zhang X, Li Y. High-resolution intravascular magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall at 3.0 Tesla: toward evaluation of atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2021; 11:4522-4529. [PMID: 34737920 DOI: 10.21037/qims-21-286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Background To validate the feasibility of generating high-resolution intravascular 3.0 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall to further plaque imaging. Methods A receive-only 0.014-inch diameter magnetic resonance imaging guidewire (MRIG) was manufactured for intravascular imaging within a phantom experiment and the coronary artery wall of the swine. For coronary artery wall imaging, both high-resolution images and conventional resolution images were acquired. A 16-channel commercial surface coil for magnetic resonance imaging was employed for the control group. Results For the phantom experiment, the MRIG showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the surface coil. The peak signal-to-noise ratio of the MRIG and the surface coil-generated imaging were 213.6 and 19.8, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio decreased rapidly as the distance from the MRIG increased. For the coronary artery wall experiment, the vessel wall imaging by the MRIG could be identified clearly, whereas the vessel wall imaging by the surface coil was blurred. The average signal-to-noise ratio of the artery wall was 21.1±5.40 by the MRIG compared to 8.4±2.19 by the surface coil, where the resolution was set at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm. As expected, the high-resolution sequence clearly showed more details than the conventional resolution sequence set at 0.7 mm × 0.7 mm × 2.0 mm. Histological examination showed no evidence of mechanical injuries in the target vessel walls. Conclusions The study validated the feasibility of generating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm for the coronary artery wall using a 0.014 inch MRIG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanfeng Meng
- Department of MRI, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Zhiguang Mo
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,The Key Laboratory for Magnetic Resonance and Multimodality Imaging of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jinying Hao
- Department of MRI, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Yueyou Peng
- Department of MRI, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Hui Yan
- Department of MRI, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Jingbo Mu
- Department of Cardiology, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Dengfeng Ma
- Department of Cardiology, Taiyuan Central Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Xiaoliang Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Ye Li
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,The Key Laboratory for Magnetic Resonance and Multimodality Imaging of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, China
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Chen W, Lee BY, Zhu XH, Wiesner HM, Sarkarat M, Gandji NP, Rupprecht S, Yang QX, Lanagan MT. Tunable Ultrahigh Dielectric Constant (tuHDC) Ceramic Technique to Largely Improve RF Coil Efficiency and MR Imaging Performance. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2020; 39:3187-3197. [PMID: 32310763 PMCID: PMC7529716 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2020.2988834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This work introduces an innovative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technology that incorporates radiofrequency (RF) coil(s) with permittivity-tunable ultrahigh dielectric constant (tuHDC) ceramics to significantly improve RF coil transmission and reception efficiencies, MR imaging sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The tuHDC ceramics made of composite barium strontium titanate (BST) compounds (Ba0.6 Sr0.4 TiO3) have low dielectric loss and very high permittivity tunability from 2,000 to 15000 by varying the ceramic temperature between 0°C and 40°C to achieve an optimal permittivity for MR imaging application. We demonstrated for the first time the proof of concept using the BST-based tuHDC-RF-coil technology to improve MR spectroscopic imaging performance of 17O nuclide at 10.5 Tesla (T) at a low ceramic temperature and 23Na nuclide at 7T at room temperature. We discovered a large and spatially independent noise reduction under an optimal ceramic temperature, which synergistically resulted in an unprecedented SNR improvement. Large improvements were also demonstrated for 1H MRI on a 1.5T clinical scanner using the same ceramics. The tuHDC-RF-coil technology is robust, flexible and cost-effective; it presents a technical breakthrough to significantly improve imaging sensitivity and resolution for broad MR imaging applications; which is critical for advancing biomedical and neuroscience research, and improving diagnostic imaging.
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Pang Y, Wong EWH, Yu B, Zhang X. Design and numerical evaluation of a volume coil array for parallel MR imaging at ultrahigh fields. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2014; 4:50-6. [PMID: 24649435 DOI: 10.3978/j.issn.2223-4292.2014.02.07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2014] [Accepted: 02/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
In this work, we propose and investigate a volume coil array design method using different types of birdcage coils for MR imaging. Unlike the conventional radiofrequency (RF) coil arrays of which the array elements are surface coils, the proposed volume coil array consists of a set of independent volume coils including a conventional birdcage coil, a transverse birdcage coil, and a helix birdcage coil. The magnetic fluxes of these three birdcage coils are intrinsically cancelled, yielding a highly decoupled volume coil array. In contrast to conventional non-array type volume coils, the volume coil array would be beneficial in improving MR signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and also gain the capability of implementing parallel imaging. The volume coil array is evaluated at the ultrahigh field of 7T using FDTD numerical simulations, and the g-factor map at different acceleration rates was also calculated to investigate its parallel imaging performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Pang
- 1 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; 2 Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA ; 3 Magwale, Palo Alto, CA, USA ; 4 UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco & Berkeley, CA, USA ; 5 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ernest W H Wong
- 1 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; 2 Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA ; 3 Magwale, Palo Alto, CA, USA ; 4 UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco & Berkeley, CA, USA ; 5 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Baiying Yu
- 1 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; 2 Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA ; 3 Magwale, Palo Alto, CA, USA ; 4 UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco & Berkeley, CA, USA ; 5 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Xiaoliang Zhang
- 1 Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; 2 Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA ; 3 Magwale, Palo Alto, CA, USA ; 4 UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco & Berkeley, CA, USA ; 5 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, CA, USA
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Li Y, Yu B, Pang Y, Vigneron DB, Zhang X. Planar quadrature RF transceiver design using common-mode differential-mode (CMDM) transmission line method for 7T MR imaging. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80428. [PMID: 24265823 PMCID: PMC3827179 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2013] [Accepted: 10/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of quadrature RF magnetic fields has been demonstrated to be an efficient method to reduce transmit power and to increase the signal-to-noise (SNR) in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The goal of this project was to develop a new method using the common-mode and differential-mode (CMDM) technique for compact, planar, distributed-element quadrature transmit/receive resonators for MR signal excitation and detection and to investigate its performance for MR imaging, particularly, at ultrahigh magnetic fields. A prototype resonator based on CMDM method implemented by using microstrip transmission line was designed and fabricated for 7T imaging. Both the common mode (CM) and the differential mode (DM) of the resonator were tuned and matched at 298MHz independently. Numerical electromagnetic simulation was performed to verify the orthogonal B1 field direction of the two modes of the CMDM resonator. Both workbench tests and MR imaging experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance. The intrinsic decoupling between the two modes of the CMDM resonator was demonstrated by the bench test, showing a better than -36 dB transmission coefficient between the two modes at resonance frequency. The MR images acquired by using each mode and the images combined in quadrature showed that the CM and DM of the proposed resonator provided similar B1 coverage and achieved SNR improvement in the entire region of interest. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed CMDM method with distributed-element transmission line technique is a feasible and efficient technique for planar quadrature RF coil design at ultrahigh fields, providing intrinsic decoupling between two quadrature channels and high frequency capability. Due to its simple and compact geometry and easy implementation of decoupling methods, the CMDM quadrature resonator can possibly be a good candidate for design blocks in multichannel RF coil arrays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Li
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Baiying Yu
- Magwale, Palo Alto, California, United States of America
| | - Yong Pang
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Daniel B. Vigneron
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, Berkeley & San Francisco, California, United States of America
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Xiaoliang Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, Berkeley & San Francisco, California, United States of America
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), San Francisco, California, United States of America
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