Simultaneous B1 + homogenization and specific absorption rate hotspot suppression using a magnetic resonance phased array transmit coil

In high-field MRI severe problems with respect to B(1) (+) uniformity and specific absorption rate (SAR) deposition pose a great challenge to whole-body imaging. In this study the potential of a phased array transmit coil is investigated to simultaneously reduce B(1) (+) nonuniformity and SAR deposition. This was tested by performing electromagnetic simulations of a phased array TEM coil operating at 128 MHz loaded with two different homogeneous elliptical phantoms and four dielectric patient models. It was shown that the wave interference of a circularly polarized RF field with an ellipse and a pelvis produces largely identical B(1) (+) and electric field patterns. Especially for obese patients, this results in large B(1) (+) nonuniformity and global areas with elevated SAR deposition. It is demonstrated that a phased array transmit coil can reduce these phenomena. The technique was especially successful in suppressing SAR hotspots with a decrease up to 50%. The application of optimized settings for an ellipse to the patient models leads to comparable results as obtained with the patient-specific optimizations. This suggests that generic phase/amplitude port settings are possible, requiring no preinformation about patient-specific RF fields. Such a scheme would, due to its simultaneous B(1) (+) homogenization and extra SAR margin, have many benefits for whole-body imaging at 3 T.