Patent ID: 8766636

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radio-frequency (RF) coil assembly comprising: a coil support; and a distributed-capacitance millipede MRI RF coil mounted on the coil support, the MRI RF coil comprising a coil conductor, the coil conductor compromising: a first patterned foil defining the plurality of longitudinal conducting strips; and a second patterned foil defining the pair of transverse conducting rings the first patterned foil defining a first pair of RF shields situated on opposite longitudinal sides of the longitudinal conducting strips, the first pair of RF shields being separated from the longitudinal conducting strips by a corresponding pair of ring-shaped flux return gaps for longitudinally confining an RF magnetic field generated by the RF coil to the measurement volume; and the second patterned foil defining a second pair of RF shields situated on opposite longitudinal sides of the pair of transverse conducting rings, the second pair of RF shields being separated from the pair of transverse conducting rings by the corresponding pair of ring shaped flux return gaps, the MRI RF coil being configured to generate a transverse RF magnetic field, wherein a transverse extent of a measurement volume being defined within the RF coil exceeds a longitudinal extent of the measurement volume by at least a factor of 3.