Abstract #1413

Calibration-Free pTx of the Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Spinal Cord at 7T

Christoph Stefan Aigner¹, Manuel Fernando Sánchez Alarcon^1,2, Alexandre D'Astous^3,4, Eva Alonso-Ortiz^3,4, Julien Cohen-Adad^3,4,5,6, and Sebastian Schmitter^1,7,8

¹Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Berlin, Germany, ²Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany, ³NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada, ⁴Centre de recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, ⁵Functional Neuroimaging Unit, CRIUGM, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, ⁶Mila-Quebec AI Institute, Montréal, QC, Canada, ⁷Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, ⁸Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Parallel Transmit & Multiband, Parallel Transmit & Multiband, 7 Tesla, Spinal Cord, Universal Shim

Motivation: Addressing the issue of lengthy parallel transmit (pTx) adjustment times caused by the absence of a dedicated spinal cord (SC) coil setting, which limits SC imaging at ultra-high field.

Goal(s): Enhance imaging efficiency by universal shim modes that can be applied without the need for additional adjustment time for different SC regions and coils.

Approach: We have built a library of channel-wise B₁⁺ maps and optimized universal RF shims to optimize transmit homogeneity and efficiency.

Results: The proposed universal shims significantly improve B₁⁺efficiency, achieving a 50% enhancement compared to the default shim mode, while eliminating the need for subject-specific pTx adjustments.

Impact: The development of universal shims not only enhances SC imaging efficiency at ultra-high field but also streamlines the process by eliminating lengthy subject-specific pTx adjustments, expecting SC imaging to become more usable for non-pTx experts.

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