Medical Advances, Inc.

Randall W Jones

Thomas E Schubert

Dave Donars

A whole volume neck coil for MRI includes an anterior and posterior saddle coil, the latter attached to a base. The anterior coil is held in an open framework, hinged against an extension tower attached to the base. The hinge axis is angled to the medial axis to provide greater entry area for the patient's head and shoulders. The extension tower also provides adjustment of the anterior coil toward and away from the base by means of a sliding carriage attached to the extension tower. The coils are passively decoupled from the RF excitation field by means of back-to-back diodes which insert a 'pole' forming network into the coils. A method of calculating the values of the network components is taught that accounts for significant diode junction capacitance.

NMR neck coil with passive decoupling

A whole volume shoulder coil for MRI includes two opposed coils one attached by a knuckle held captive in a sliding track to provide bounded translation rotation and angling of that coil with respect to the opposed coil. The coil position may be fixed by means of a single adjustment which clamps the knuckle against the track. The coils includes fusible links separated from the coil by a current divider which also serves to detune the coil when the fuse is opened. Varactor diodes are used to tune the coil. The DC control voltage for the diodes is combined with the signal from the coil and later separated by tuned filters to reduce cabling.

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Mukwonago, WI, United States of America

Randall W Jones