Calibration-free pTx of the human heart at 7T via 3D universal pulses

We demonstrate calibration free universal 4kT-points pulse design to achieve a subject independent, homogeneous flip-angle within the human heart at 7T. The proposed universal pulse was computed offline based on 22 three-dimensional B₁⁺-maps of 20 volunteers with varying BMI and age (two of them were scanned twice with different coil placement). The optimized universal pulse was successfully applied experimentally to one volunteer from the library and four new unseen volunteers. In total we have analyzed 27 B₁⁺ maps from 24 volunteers. Experimental data at 7T validate the B₁⁺ predictions and demonstrate successful plug-and-play 3D pTx of the human heart.