Flexible, twisted-pair coil array with dielectric resonators and transceiver dipole antennas for enhanced sensitivity in MRI at 7T

Motivation: Increasing SNR in MRI by designing flexible receive arrays that adapt closely to patient anatomy is needed to improve clinical image quality. Goal(s): This study aims to develop a flexible, multi-channel twisted-pair (TP) coil array with integrated dielectric resonators (DRAs) and transceiver dipole antennas to enhance SNR at 7T. Approach: The TP array, combined with DRAs and dipole antennas, was validated via numerical simulations and phantom experiments on a 7T MRI scanner to evaluate B1+ efficiency and SNR. Results: Integrating DRAs, dipole antennas and TP coils provided more than a 2-fold gain in peripheral SNR and almost a 1.2-fold gain in the center. Impact: This new approach can substantially boost receive performance of flexible RF coils tailored for various clinical applications.