Numerical Investigation of Bore-Integrated Patch Antenna Array for 7 Tesla MRI

In this work, we present a novel transmit radiofrequency eight-channel coil for 7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human body integrated into the radiofrequency (RF) shield of an MR-scanner based on patch antennas with improved performance. To reduce coupling between the antennas mounted inside the RF shield a special method of decoupling was used. Numerical simulations with a human voxel model placed inside the bore demonstrated more than 3.5 times higher transmit efficiency in the region of interest than the state-of-the-art bore-integrated stripline array. The results show the proposed array to be promising for prospective whole-body 7 T scanners.