Safety Evaluation of a 16-element 9.4T Human Head Transmit Array with B0 Field Probes Inserted

Motivation: Combining RF-array with B0 field-probes provides capability of controlling quality of the image. However, presence of additional devices can lead to an increased local heating and inhomogeneities of magnetic field (B1+). Goal(s): To evaluate RF-safety of the 16Tx-array in the presence of multiple B0 field-probes. Approach: We numerically and experimentally evaluate the transmit performance of the 16Tx-array loaded by a phantom and human voxel models in the presence of 11 B0 field-probes. Results: Inserting the field-probes led to a change up to 18% for the worst-case (WC) pSAR10g and decrease of simulated B1+ up to 24% and experimental in 25%. Impact: We showed that insertion of B0 field-probes does not substantially change the peak SAR and the RF magnetic field distribution of the 16Tx array at 9.4T. Predicted SAR changes facilitate safe use of the field-probes for in-vivo studies.