Development of a double tuned 2H/31P whole-body birdcage transmit coil for 2H and 31P MR applications from head to toe at 7T

Deuterium (2H) and phosphorus (31P) MRS are complementary methods for evaluating tissue metabolism non-invasively in vivo. Combined 2H and 31P MRS would therefore be of interest for various applications. In this work, we developed a double tuned 2H/31P whole-body birdcage transmit coil for 7T, for 2H and 31P MRS with homogeneous excitation over a large field-of-view. The B1+ variation of the whole-body birdcage coil over a body-sized phantom was 14% for 2H and 25% for 31P. Using a two-channel 2H/31P prototype receive array, we obtained high-quality 2H and 31P 3D MRSI data in the brain, liver, and lower-leg muscles.