Whole Body 3T MRI System with Eight Parallel RF Transmission Channels

I. Graesslin, P. Vernickel, J. Schmidt, C. Findeklee, P. Roschmann, C. Leussler, P. Haaker, H. Laudan, K. M. Luedeke, J. Scholz, S. Buller, J. Keupp, P. Bornert, H. Dingemans, G. Mens, G. Vissers, K. Blom, N. Swennen, J. vd Heijden, L. Mollevanger, P. Harvey, U. Katscher Philips Research Laboratories, Hamburg, Germany, TuTech Innovation, Hamburg, Germany, Philips Medical Systems, Best, Netherlands, Philips Medical Systems Introduction Dielectric resonance effects diminish the quality of body MR images at main fields at 3T or above. Parallel RF transmission techniques bear the potential of compensating for these effects through RF shimming. Such techniques have been studied in simulations [1], and first multi-channel transmit systems were presented recently [2-4]. Furthermore, such systems enable advanced parallel transmission imaging techniques like [5-7], e.g., to accelerate multi-dimensional RF-pulses. This paper describes the first MRI prototype system based on a modified clinical MR scanner, which features whole body imaging at 3T using genuine eight-channel transmitter/receiver (Tx/Rx) technology.