A smart switching system to enable automatic tuning and detuning of metamaterial resonators in MRI scans
| Autor: | George Palikaras, Ditjon Katana, Roberto L. Pricci, Helena Cano-Garcia, Maria Koutsoupidou, Andrew G. Webb, Shimul Saha, Efthymios Kallos, Panagiotis Kosmas, Srinivas Rana |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Scanner Multidisciplinary Acoustics lcsh:R lcsh:Medicine Specific absorption rate Metamaterial 02 engineering and technology 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Inductor Article Electrical and electronic engineering 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging 03 medical and health sciences Resonator Magnetic resonance imaging 0302 clinical medicine Transmission (telecommunications) lcsh:Q Radio frequency Sensitivity (control systems) lcsh:Science 0210 nano-technology |
| Zdroj: | Scientific Reports, 10(1). NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP Scientific Reports Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2020) |
| Popis: | We present a radio-frequency-activated switching system that can automatically detune a metamaterial resonator to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performance. Local sensitivity-enhancing metamaterials typically consist of resonant components, which means that the transmitted radio frequency field is spatially inhomogeneous. The switching system shows for the first time that a metamaterial resonator can be detuned during transmission and tuned during reception using a digital circuit. This allows a resonating system to maintain homogeneous transmit field while maintaining an increased receive sensitivity. As a result, sensitivity can be enhanced without changing the system-provided specific absorption rate (SAR) models. The developed digital circuit consists of inductors sensitive to the transmit radio-frequency pulses, along with diodes acting as switches to control the resonance frequency of the resonator. We first test the automatic resonator detuning on-the-bench, and subsequently evaluate it in a 1.5 T MRI scanner using tissue-mimicking phantoms. The scan results demonstrate that the switching mechanism automatically detunes the resonator in transmit mode, while retaining its sensitivity-enhancing properties (tuned to the Larmor frequency) in receive mode. Since it does not require any connection to the MRI console, the switching system can have broad applications and could be adapted for use with other types of MRI scanners and field-enhancing resonators. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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