Integrated Parallel Reception, Excitation, and Shimming (IPRES)

Hui Han¹, Allen W. Song¹, Trong-Kha Truong¹

A new general concept is proposed for integrated parallel reception, excitation, and shimming (iPRES). It uses a novel coil design allowing an RF current and a DC current to flow in the same physical coil to perform parallel excitation/reception and B₀ shimming with a unified coil array. To demonstrate its feasibility, proof-of-concept phantom experiments were performed with a two-coil array. The shim field induced by individually optimized DC currents applied in both coils was able to significantly reduce nonlinear B₀ inhomogeneities introduced in the phantom, demonstrating that parallel excitation/reception and B₀ shimming can be performed with a unified coil system.