Zivkovic I, Teeuwisse W, Slobozhanyuk A, Nenasheva E, Webb A. High permittivity ceramics improve the transmit field and receive efficiency of a commercial extremity coil at 1.5 Tesla.
J Magn Reson 2019;
299:59-65. [PMID:
30580045 DOI:
10.1016/j.jmr.2018.12.013]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2018] [Revised: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 12/14/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work is to investigate the use of ceramic materials (based on BaTiO3 with ZrO2 and CeO2-additives) with very high relative permittivity (εr ∼ 4500) to increase the local transmit field and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for commercial extremity coils on a clinical 1.5 T MRI system.
METHODS
Electromagnetic simulations of transmit efficiency and specific absorption rate (SAR) were performed using four ferroelectric ceramic blocks placed around a cylindrical phantom, as well as placing these ceramics around the wrist of a human body model. Results were compared with experimental scans using the transmit body coil of the 1.5 T MRI system and an eight-element extremity receive array designed for the wrist. SNR measurements were also performed for both phantom and in vivo scans.
RESULTS
Electromagnetic simulations and phantom/in vivo experiments showed an increased in the local transmit efficiency from the body coil of ∼20-30%, resulting in an ∼50% lower transmit power level and a significant reduction in local and global SAR throughout the body. For in vivo wrist experiments, the SNR of a commercial eight-channel receive array, integrated over the entire volume, was improved by ∼45% with the ceramic.
CONCLUSION
The local transmit efficiency as well as the SNR can be increased for 1.5 T extremity MRI with commercial array coils by using materials with very high permittivity.
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