Multi-Channel Transmit - Multi-Channel Receive Coil Array for Human fMRI

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant For this Phase I STTR proposal the investigators plan to develop the radiofrequency RF coil technology required for high resolution fMRI at T In the absence of a body transmit coil all T head coils must also incorporate a transmitter in addition to the receiver Here we propose a transmit array with up to individual channels combined with a receive array that uses the highest number of receive channels currently available for T which is The technology incorporates a number of innovations including a novel small on coil preamplifier a modular housing design and our patented cable traps for sheet current suppression The technology combines the advantages of multi channel RF transmit field control optimization and efficiency with optimal receive array technology Our proposal has the flexibility to use our new housing coil in either a first configuration that has a
fully unrestricted visual field of view with significant task presentation advantages for all applications that do not require whole brain image acquisition or a second configuration that adds a novel frontal lobe coil array to provide whole brain coverage Both configurations will be designed in a way that when compared to currently available commercial whole head coils will achieve significantly superior task presentation capability the ability to utilize motion correctin cameras and improved peripheral SNR

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE We plan to provide for the first time a commercial radiofrequency RF multi configuration head coil system for functional MRI of humans at Tesla along with an improved head coil system for Tesla fMRI clinical imaging For whole brain imaging mode these two part head coils will implement or transmit channels with receive channels with mostly unrestricted view along with our newly patented technique for sheet current suppression For totally unrestricted field of view mode the front part with its transmit channels and receive channels are removed to accommodate motion cameras and eye trackers RF field optimization capability together with significant transmit efficiency gains through conformal fit and on coil channel dedicated preamplifiers This new RF technology will make high resolution T fMRI imaging possible and fMRI imaging substantially improved