Flexible local coil for magnetic resonance imaging
AssigneeNeocoil, LLC
InventorBrian Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flexible coil with improved tolerance for overlapping antennas and with reduced susceptibility to the introduction of image artifacts as a result of overlapping antennas utilizes antennas with multiple conductors extending in parallel for the length of the antenna. Each conductor is connected to the other conductor at each end creating parallel conduction paths for the length of the antenna. The parallel conduction paths reduce the resistance of the antenna which, in turn, improves the quality factor of the antenna. The improved quality factor results in antennas that are less susceptible to image artifacts being induced in the antenna due to coupling from an overlapping antenna.
Claims10
A flexible local coil for use with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, the flexible local coil comprising:
- a flexible substrate configured to bend in a plurality of non-parallel axes;
- and
- a plurality of antennas mounted to the flexible substrate, wherein:
- each of the plurality of antennas includes a plurality of electrical conductors,
- each of the plurality of electrical conductors includes a first end and a second end,
- each of the plurality of electrical conductors for one of the plurality of antennas are mounted together on the flexible substrate and bend along each of the plurality of non-parallel axes in tandem, and
- each of the plurality of electrical conductors for one of the plurality of antennas is electrically connected together at both the first end and the second end and an insulating layer is present between electrical conductors such that a parallel electrical connection is established along a length of the plurality of electrical conductors.
A flexible local coil for use with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, the flexible local coil comprising:
- a flexible substrate configured to bend in a plurality of non-parallel axes;
- and
- a plurality of channels mounted to the flexible substrate, wherein:
- each of the plurality of channels bends along each of the plurality of non-parallel axes,
- each of the plurality of channels includes a plurality of electrical conductors,
- each of the plurality of electrical conductors includes a first end and a second end, and
- each of the plurality of electrical conductors for one of the plurality of channels is electrically connected together at both the first end and the second end and an insulating layer is present between electrical conductors such that a parallel electrical connection is established along the plurality of electrical conductors from the first end to the second end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.