Deep brain stimulation lead design to reduce radio-frequency heating in MRI

Radio-frequency (RF) induced heating at the electrodes of the deep brain stimulation lead is a major concern when used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A novel lead design is proposed to address this problem. By adopting a coil with non-uniform diameters, the maximal temperature rise measured in a standard phantom is reduced from 4.6 to 2.0°C, with an average reduction of 59%. The suppression of RF heating is probably achieved because of the alteration of the transmission line parameters of the lead by the novel design. The details of the design, experiment validation and discussion of the mechanisms are presented.