Correcting Susceptibility artifacts with Unified RF/Shim Coil (UNIC) in Cervical Spine MRI for Subjects with and without Orthodontic Implants

Motivation: Metallic orthodontic devices can introduce strong susceptibility artifacts that hinder clinical interpretation of cervical spine MRI. Goal(s): Using novel unified RF/shim coils (UNIC) to reduce field variation caused by metal susceptibility artifact. Approach: Total of eighteen subjects (5 with braces) were scanned with a UNIC coil research prototype. Results: The integrated UNIC shim array significantly increased the voxel percentage from 28% with scanner-shimming to 46% in DWI, reducing distortion by 61% with braces and 15% without braces in DWI, and by 41% in DTI. It also decreased B0 field variation by 63% with braces and 31% without. Impact: Unified RF/shim coil delivered improved quality and corrected image distortions in cervical spine scans by mitigating magnetic field variation, including those from orthodontic braces, ensuring more accurate diffusion measurements and consistently reducing susceptibility artifacts.