Design and Implementation of Two 16-Element Antisymmetric Transceiver Coil Arrays for Parallel Transmission Human Cardiac MRI at 7 T

Two 16-element radio frequency (RF) transceiver antisymmetric coil arrays with two different implementation designs aiming for improved characteristics for static phase B
₁
⁺
shimming and parallel receive were developed for human cardiac MRI at 7 T. Both cardiac arrays consist of a weakly curved lightweight housing fit to an average human thorax shape as an anterior array in combination with a flat posterior array. The first array (Design 1) comprised eight identical antisymmetric loops for both anterior and posterior sections. Based on initial testing and to improve parallel imaging capabilities and B
₁
⁺
field homogeneity, the second array (Design 2) was composed of 12-loops for the anterior section and four antisymmetric loops of larger size for the posterior section. Electromagnetic-field (EMF) simulations were carried out for both antisymmetric arrays loaded with an elliptical-shaped thorax phantom and two human voxel models (Duke and Ella). Static phase B
₁
⁺
shimming has been carried out within Duke and Ella models using two optimization cost functions aiming to maximize the transmit efficiency and weighted combination of both B
₁
⁺
field homogeneity and efficiency. The hardware and imaging performance of the two developed antisymmetric cardiac arrays was validated through EMF simulations, benchtop measurements, and MR measurements in a thorax phantom. Both antisymmetric arrays were compared to two commercial 16-element transceiver arrays (a 1Tx/16Rx in single transmit mode and an 8Tx/16Rx in parallel transmit mode). MRI measurements were performed with Design 2 using a 70-kg fresh pig cadaver (10-15 min postmortem). Parallel imaging with an acceleration factor up to R = 6 was possible using Design 2 while maintaining a mean g-factor of 1.47 within the pig heart. T
₂
-weighted images of the pig heart were acquired using up to R = 5 with a spatial resolution of 0.35 ×0.35 ×4 mm
³
.