2023/12/15 by Xia Zhu, Ke Wu, Zhu, Xia +5 · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Medicine · #Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications #Conducting polymers and applications #FOS: Electrical engineering #FOS: Physical sciences #Image and Video Processing (eess.IV) #Medical Physics (physics.med-ph) #Wireless Power Transfer Systems #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.10018
openalex publication_date 2023/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recent advancements in metamaterials have yielded the possibility of a wireless solution to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Unlike traditional closely packed local coil arrays with rigid designs and numerous components, these lightweight, cost-effective metamaterials eliminate the need for radio frequency (RF) cabling, baluns, adapters, and interfaces. However, their clinical adoption has been limited by their low sensitivity, bulky physical footprint, and limited, specific use cases. Herein, we introduce a wearable metamaterial developed using commercially available coaxial cable, designed for a 3.0 T MRI system. This metamaterial inherits the coaxially-shielded structure of its constituent coaxial cable, effectively containing the electric field within the cable, thereby mitigating the electric coupling to its loading while ensuring safer clinical adoption, lower signal loss, and resistance to frequency shifts. Weighing only 50g, the metamaterial maximizes its sensitivity by conforming to the anatomical region of interest. MRI images acquired using this metamaterial with various pulse sequences demonstrate an up to 2-fold SNR enhancement when compared to a state-of-the-art 16-channel knee coil. This work introduces a novel paradigm for constructing metamaterials in the MRI environment, paving the way for the development of next-generation wireless MRI technology.