Cardiac Imaging at 7T: Single- and Two-Spoke RF Pulse Design with 16-channel Parallel Excitation

Purpose Higher SNR and improved contrast have been demonstrated at Ultra-high magnetic fields (≥7T) in multiple targets, often with multi-channel transmit B1+ methods to address the deleterious impact on tissue contrast due to spatial variations in B1+ profiles. When imaging the heart at 7T, however, respiratory and cardiac motion, as well as B0 inhomogeneity, greatly increase the methodological challenge. In this study we compare 2-spoke parallel transmit (pTX) RF pulses with static B1+ shimming in cardiac imaging at 7T.