Surgical wound monitoring by MRI with a metamaterial-based implanted local coil

• Main Authors: Kamel Hanan, Syms Richard R.A., Kardoulaki Evdokia M., Rea Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2018-01-01
• Series: EPJ Applied Metamaterials
• Subjects: Metamaterial; MRI; local coil
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1051/epjam/2018001

An implantable sensor for monitoring surgical wounds after bowel reconstruction is proposed. The sensor consists of a coupled pair of 8-element magneto-inductive ring resonators, designed for mounting on a biofragmentable anastomosis ring to give a local increase in signal-to-noise ratio near an annular wound during 1H magnetic resonance imaging. Operation on an anti-symmetric spatial mode is used to avoid coupling to the B1 field during excitation, and a single wired connection is used for MRI signal output. The electrical response and field-of-view are estimated theoretically. Prototypes are constructed from flexible elements designed for operation at 1.5 T, electrical responses are characterized and local SNR enhancement is confirmed using agar gel phantoms.