Motivation: Unmet need for whole-body RF excitation at 7T. Goal(s): Proposed a whole-body RF excitation method with large coverage, improved homogeneity, reduced SAR and simplified workflow. Approach: To mitigate the standing wave effect, a bore-integrated single-channel dipole antenna, as opposed to a phased array, was proposed for whole-body imaging. Additionally, the phase-match and wave-match methods were employed to enhance homogeneity and penetration. Results: Our method demonstrates good performance in large coverage in both coronal plane and sagittal plane, as well as improved homogeneity and reduced SAR. Impact: Our results provided valuable insights for the design of future UHF body coil MRI systems. This approach has the potential to significantly streamline workflow and decrease RF hardware costs.
Gao et al. (2025) studied this question.