Mo Zhiguang, Che Shao, Du Feng, Xiao Enhua, Chen Qiaoyan, Li Nan, Jia Sen, Tie Changjun, Wu Bing, Zhang Xiaoliang, Zheng Hairong, Li Ye
Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Jul 22:e03481. doi: 10.1002/advs.202503481.
Wireless radiofrequency (RF) coils based on metasurfaces hold great promise for improving clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) workflows by eliminating the need for cable connections to the patient bed and simplifying coil structures. A fundamental requirement for their clinical adoption is the ability to support parallel imaging, which reduces examination time and improves efficiency. Moreover, the implementation of parallel imaging often comes at the expense of image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Although several wireless RF coils incorporating metamaterials are reported, most do not support parallel imaging and many deliver suboptimal SNR performance. In this work, a novel wireless RF coil architecture is proposed, termed the near-field coupling array (NFCA), which demonstrates both excellent SNR performance and robust parallel imaging capabilities. A general theoretical framework is presented that establishes a foundation for applying metasurface arrays in magnetic resonance RF coil design. The SNR expression for this architecture is derived from two perspectives, and its fundamental principles are validated through case studies. Experimental results show that the NFCA achieves a 66% SNR improvement over a conventional commercial RF coil architecture (i.e., a wired coil) while its average acceleration factor exceeds 94% of that of the commercial coil.
基于超表面的无线射频（RF）线圈有望通过消除与病床的电缆连接需求并简化线圈结构来改善临床磁共振成像（MRI）工作流程。其临床应用的一个基本要求是支持并行成像的能力，这可以减少检查时间并提高效率。此外，并行成像的实现往往以图像信噪比（SNR）为代价。尽管已经报道了几种包含超材料的无线RF线圈，但大多数不支持并行成像，并且许多线圈的SNR性能欠佳。在这项工作中，提出了一种新颖的无线RF线圈架构，称为近场耦合阵列（NFCA），它展示了出色的SNR性能和强大的并行成像能力。提出了一个通用的理论框架，为在磁共振RF线圈设计中应用超表面阵列奠定了基础。从两个角度推导了该架构的SNR表达式，并通过案例研究验证了其基本原理。实验结果表明，与传统的商业RF线圈架构（即有线线圈）相比，NFCA的SNR提高了66%，同时其平均加速因子超过了商业线圈的94%。
