Friedrich Wetterling1,
Andre Rennings2, Raffi Kalayciyan1, Dominique M.
Corteville1, Simon Konstandin1, Lothar R. Schad1
1Computer
Assisted Clinical Medicine, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; 2General
& Theoretical Electrical Engineering, University of Duisburg-Essen,
Duisburg, Germany
An asymmetric birdcage resonator was integrated into the 3T MRI system and tested in conjunction with a receive-only surface coil for human Na MRI. An up to date unseen B1 homogeneity was demonstrated by the possibility to acquire the world-wide first whole body 23Na image of a male human being. Furthermore, a two-fold SNR benefit of the dual resonator system over a state-of-the-art double-tuned 1H/23Na quadrature birdcage resonator was measured on the example of a human brain scan.