Ultraflexible Electrotextile Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Radio‐Frequency Coils

Abstract

This chapter discusses receive-only radio-frequency (RF) coils, more specifically, the surface coils used to receive signals. Modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners extensively use the surface coils for areas throughout the body to improve image quality. The chapter provides a brief overview of MRI in general, and discusses MRI RF coil design motivations, challenges, and strategies. It also discusses electrotextile candidates for high-performance MRI RF coils to pave the way for the RF coil design. The design of single-element flexible RF coil starts with the design of RF coil using regular metal and substrates following the strategy and roadmap discussed. The chapter further discusses RF coil array using electrotextiles and its integration with MRI scanners. The major design goal is to maintain low mutual coupling so as to keep every element independent of other channels. The chapter presents and discusses the characterization results using both phantom and human cadaver.