Imaging of the Entire Spinal Cord with a 32-Channel pTx Body Array at 7 T

Motivation: Ultrahigh-field MRI of the spinal cord is typically limited by spatial B1+ variation. Goal(s): Use a remote 32-channel parallel transmission (pTx) body array in combination with a local receive coil to optimize the B1+ field, to assess the impact of respiration on B0/B1+ fields and, to acquire high-resolution 2D/3D datasets of the entire spinal cord. Approach: In-vivo study on three healthy volunteers at 7 Tesla using tailored static pTx / RF shimming. Results: Respiration had a minimal impact on the B1+ field but affected the B0 field. Despite this, high-quality GRE datasets were successfully acquired both during breath-holding and free breathing. Impact: This study demonstrates the potential of a 7 Tesla pTx body array with optimized pTx techniques for imaging the entire spinal cord in a large field of view, paving the way for improved diagnosis of spinal cord pathologies.