Inductively-overcoupled coil design for high resolution magnetic resonance imaging

BACKGROUND: Maintaining the quality of magnetic resonance images acquired with the current implantable coil technology is challenging in longitudinal studies. To overcome this challenge, the principle of 'inductive overcoupling' is introduced as a method to tune and match a dual coil system. This system consists of an imaging coil built with fixed electrical elements and a matching coil equipped with tuning and matching capabilities. Overcoupling here refers to the condition beyond which the peak of the current in the imaging coil splits. METHODS: The combined coils are coupled inductively to operate like a transformer. Each coil circuit is electrically represented by equivalent lumped-elements. A theoretical analysis is given to identify the frequency response characteristics of the currents in each coil. The predictions from this analysis are translated into experiments and applied to locally image rat spinal cord at 9.4 T using an implantable coil as the imaging coil and an external volume coil as the matching coil. RESULTS: The theoretical analysis indicated that strong coupling between the coils divides the resonance peaks on the response curves of the currents. Once these newly generated peaks were tuned and matched to the desired frequency and impedance of operation, in vivo images were acquired from the rat spinal cord at high quality and high resolution. CONCLUSION: After proper implementation, inductive overcoupling provides a unique opportunity for tuning and matching the coil system, and allows reliable and repeatable acquisitions of magnetic resonance data. This feature is likely to be useful in experimental studies, such as those aimed at longitudinally imaging the rat following spinal cord injury.