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Advances in the application of flexible MRI coils in head and neck imaging
LU Xiaoping  WANG Yun  WANG Xiao  CHEN Yu  ZHANG Zhuhua  XUE Huadan  JIN Zhengyu 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.028.


[Abstract] The head and neck region has complex anatomical structures with irregular morphology, adjacent to multiple groups of delicate soft tissue structures and important neurovascular bundles, which imposes extremely high requirements on the soft tissue contrast and spatial resolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Traditional rigid MRI coils have inherent limitations such as poor anatomical fit, insufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and low patient examination tolerance, which have become the core bottleneck restricting high-resolution imaging and precise diagnosis and treatment of the head and neck. At present, there is still a lack of systematic sorting and in-depth review of MRI flexible coils in the field of head and neck imaging. This paper systematically expounds the research progress of MRI flexible coils in design principle, material innovation and structural optimization, compares the core performance differences between flexible coils and traditional rigid coils, sorts out the clinical application status of flexible coils in imaging of each subregion of the head and neck, analyzes the core problems existing in current technology research and development and clinical translation, and prospects the future development direction. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference for the technical research and development, clinical promotion and standardized application of head and neck MRI flexible coils, and to provide new ideas of hardware technology for precise diagnosis and treatment of head and neck diseases.
[Keywords] magnetic resonance imaging；flexible coil；head and neck examination；signal-to-noise ratio；high-resolution imaging

LU Xiaoping   WANG Yun   WANG Xiao   CHEN Yu*   ZHANG Zhuhua   XUE Huadan   JIN Zhengyu  

Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China

Corresponding author: CHEN Y, E-mail: bjchenyu@126.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-01-04
Accepted  2026-04-15
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.028
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.028.

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