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<p>Advances in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have been made possible through increased field strengths and innovations in radiofrequency (RF) coils. With increasing field strengths, unique challenges are presented in RF coil development, namely the suppression of common-mode currents present along the shields of the cabling that connect the RF coil to the MR scanner. These currents can lead to coupling with the coil, resulting in a reduction of coil sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. These currents can induce local electric fields that beyond a certain level can exceed SAR limits and even cause patient burns. Several cable trap designs exist to help address this problem; however, many of the existing designs, such as bazooka cable traps, are rigid and bulky. This leads to increased overall coil weight and impedes the flexibility of the cable. Improving upon these designs, a small, 3D-printed, lightweight elliptical cable trap is presented. The unique geometry makes it invisible to the MR scanner while maintaining significant mutual inductance that can produce up to 380 Ω on the cable. These structures were wrapped with stranded wire containing four breaks for tuning capacitors. 60 of these elliptical cable traps were placed along the length of a 139-cm cable, replacing the standard 4 bazooka cable traps. The results of B₁ distortion and heating tests showed that these elliptical baluns improve RF coil thermodynamic stability, produce less B₁ distortion, and reduce overall coil weight and bulk compared to a cable with four bazooka traps. </p>

<p>There have been several advancements in radiofrequency (RF) coil development for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to improve both image quality and patient comfort. Notable to these improvements is the trend towards lightweight and flexible coils allowing for the conformation around a variety of anatomies and body sizes. This allows for a more comfortable patient experience and enhanced signal reception. Despite these improvements, flexible supine coils for dedicated breast imaging, or larger stretchable coil arrays for closer proximity of placement and imaging at degrees of flexion, are not available. Conventional breast coils are rigid and typically require prone positioning which creates uncomfortable pressure points along the sternum. Also, these coils do not encompass the axilla or areas in the upper chest wall. Additionally, surgical planning is performed in the supine position, making it challenging to localize lesions from prone MRI scans. To address these issues, two novel RF coil technologies are presented. Firstly, a flexible, lightweight, 60-channel supine breast coil has been constructed. This coil provides shorter scan times, greater coverage of the breasts, axilla, upper chest wall, and torso while also providing enhanced patient comfort over conventional breast coils. The second RF coil technology is a 20-channel stretchable, multipurpose coil. This coil addresses limitations of conformability around curved surfaces while allowing for the imaging of joints at a bend. Due to the stretchability, this coil exhibited enhanced signal and image quality for a variety of body sizes and anatomies, such as ankles and wrists, when compared to a flexible commercial coil.</p>