Abstract #0310

16-Channel Degenerate Birdcage T/R Loop Array Head Coil for Parallel Transmit MRI at 7 T

Wei Zhao¹, Borjan Gagoski², Khaldoun Makhoul¹, Boris Keil¹, Azma Mareyam¹, Philipp Hoecht³, Lawrence L. Wald¹

¹Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Dept. of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States; ²Electrical engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States; ³Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Charlestown, MA, United States

Parallel transmit method has provided the potential to shape excitations with practical pulse lengths and mitigate B1+ inhomogeneity and B0 inhomogeneity at high field. Increasing the number of transmit channels offers the flexibility for adjusting the phase and amplitude of each channel and the degree of the freedom for improved pulse design and SAR. In this work, we developed a 16-channel T/R degenerate birdcage head coil in a single cylindrical row, with good decoupling (>15dB) between the next neighbors and high B1+ efficiency as compared with that of an 8-channel concentrically shielded T/R array coil.