A safe transmission line for MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been established as a reliable and safe imaging method for the human body. However, electric conductors, such as cables situated near or in the human body, should be avoided because induced currents in the cables can cause hazardous heating in the surrounding tissue. In this paper, a new principle for the design of a transmission line is introduced and demonstrated, which is capable of avoiding dangerous heating of cables. The principle is based on transformers placed along the line, splitting the long line into several short not resonant and thus safe sections. A transformer design is introduced along with the theoretical aspects for both the avoidance of the undesired induced currents and the reduction of signal attenuation. Furthermore, the design fulfills the geometrical requirements of the side lumen of a standard catheter. Matching networks, whose elements are determined by power matching, are used to reduce signal attenuation by the transformers. A prototype was built to validate both theory and the simulations. As demonstrated in this work, it is possible to build safe transmission lines for MRI, making applications such as active catheter tracking possible. We expect that even new applications, such as safe intravascular imaging will be possible in a safe manner in the future.