A method for measuring relative coupling between elements of a parallel transmit (PTx) array and conductive structures such as guidewires or braided catheters. The method relies on strong local enhancement of B1 fields close to conductors due to induced currents. Data acquired from single pulse-acquire measurements using very low flip angles is hence dominated by these induced current contributions. Coupling matrices for N-channel arrays can therefore be estimated using only N pulses; it is demonstrated that these are similar to those obtained from dedicated current sensors.
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