- Cardiac MR (CMR) at ultrahigh (≥7.0 T) fields is regarded as one of the most challenging MRI applications. At 7.0 T image quality is not always exclusively defined by signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Detrimental effects bear the potential to spoil the signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise (CNR) benefits of cardiac MR (CMR) at 7.0 T. B₁⁺-inhomogeneities and signal voids represent the main challenges. Various pioneering coil concepts have been proposed to tackle these issues, enabling cardiac MRI at 7.0 T. This includes a trend towards an ever larger number of transmit and receive channels. This approach affords multi-dimensional B₁⁺ modulations to improve B₁⁺ shimming performance and to enhance RF efficiency. Also, parallel imaging benefits from a high number of receive channels enabling two-dimensional acceleration. Realizing the limitations of existing coil designs tailored for UHF CMR and recognizing the opportunities of a many element TX/RX channel architecture this work proposes a modular, two dimensional 32-channel transmit and receive array using loop elements and examines its efficacy for enhanced B¹+ homogeneity and improved parallel imaging performance.
