Design of multi-row parallel-transmit coil arrays for enhanced SAR efficiency with deep brain electrodes at 3T: an electromagnetic simulation study

Tissue heating near the implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) poses a significant safety constraint. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of parallel transmit (pTx) head transmit radiofrequency (RF) coils in DBS patients, with a focus on excitation fidelity under specific absorption rate (SAR) control for brain imaging at 3T MRI.

We employed electromagnetic simulations to assess different coil configurations, including multi-row pTx coils of 16–24 channels arranged in 1, 2, and 3 rows, and compared these to a circularly polarised and pTx birdcage coil using a realistic human model without and with DBS leads and electrodes.

Two- and three-row pTx coils with overlapping loop elements exhibited similar performance, which was superior in excitation homogeneity and local SAR compared to the single-row coil and the birdcage coil both without and with DBS.

These findings suggest that multi-row coils can enhance the safety and efficacy of MRI in patients with DBS devices, so potentially improving imaging performance in this expanding patient population. There was a minimal difference in performance between the 2 and 3-row coils, favouring the simpler, lower channel count design for practical implementation.