Metasurface Enabled In Vivo Cervical Spine Imaging at 7T

Motivation: Cervical spine imaging at 7T is only feasible using dedicated RF coils that do not allow for simultaneous imaging of both brain and cervical spine, while also being prohibitively expensive. Goal(s): To utilize metasurfaces to extend the field of view on a widely utilized RF coil to improve c-spine image quality. Approach: Metasurfaces were placed on either side of the head/neck partially outside of the single channel transmit / 32-channel receive head coil of five healthy subjects. Results: Substantial improvements in GRE and MPRAGE image contrast were observed where portions of the cervical spine were completely recovered. Impact: By utilizing a pair of inexpensive metasurfaces higher quality c-spine imaging can be accomplished at 7T without the need for dedicated RF coils.