Any‐nucleus distributed active programmable transmit coil

Purpose There are 118 known elements. Nearly all of them have NMR active isotopes and at least 39 different nuclei have biological relevance. Despite this, most of today's MRI is based on only one nucleus—1H. To facilitate imaging all potential nuclei, we present a single transmit coil able to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Magnetic resonance in medicine 2024-07, Vol.92 (1), p.389-405
Main Authors: Han, Victor, Reeder, Charlie P., Hernández‐Morales, Miriam, Liu, Chunlei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coils
Digital imaging
Direct current
GaN
Image acquisition
Isotopes
Magnetic fields
Magnetic resonance imaging
Medical imaging
multinuclear
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclei
Radio frequency
RF coil
Switches
X‐nuclei
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Summary:Purpose There are 118 known elements. Nearly all of them have NMR active isotopes and at least 39 different nuclei have biological relevance. Despite this, most of today's MRI is based on only one nucleus—1H. To facilitate imaging all potential nuclei, we present a single transmit coil able to excite arbitrary nuclei in human‐scale MRI. Theory and Methods We present a completely new type of RF coil, the Any‐nucleus Distributed Active Programmable Transmit Coil (ADAPT Coil), with fast switches integrated into the structure of the coil to allow it to operate at any relevant frequency. This coil eliminates the need for the expensive traditional RF amplifier by directly converting direct current (DC) power into RF magnetic fields with frequencies chosen by digital control signals sent to the switches. Semiconductor switch imperfections are overcome by segmenting the coil. Results Circuit simulations demonstrated the effectiveness of the ADAPT Coil approach, and a 9 cm diameter surface ADAPT Coil was implemented. Using the ADAPT Coil, 1H, 23Na, 2H, and 13C phantom images were acquired, and 1H and 23Na ex vivo images were acquired. To excite different nuclei, only digital control signals were changed, which can be programmed in real time. Conclusion The ADAPT Coil presents a low‐cost, scalable, and efficient method for exciting arbitrary nuclei in human‐scale MRI. This coil concept provides further opportunities for scaling, programmability, lowering coil costs, lowering dead‐time, streamlining multinuclear MRI workflows, and enabling the study of dozens of biologically relevant nuclei.
ISSN:0740-3194
1522-2594
DOI:10.1002/mrm.30044