Head of Press and Information Office
Dr. Dr. Jens Simon
Phone: +49 531 592-3005
Email:
jens.simon(at)ptb.de
Patients with active implants like cardiac pacemakers are usually excluded from MRI due to the possible pathologic heating of the lead's tip caused by the radio-frequency (RF) field. A concept was proposed that mitigates the RF hazards by combining "native safety" (no implant present, pre-calculated) and "implant safety" requirements (determined in situ by a sensor on the implant). Parallel transmission (pTx) can subsequently be used to optimize the RF-field to achieve safe B1+-shims with high B1+ homogenity and high average B1+ field strength in the imaging plane. The concept was demonstrated by electromagnetic simulations in a human voxel model with a simplified spinal-cord implant in an 8-channel pTx body coil at 3T.
This cooperative work of PTB groups 8.11 and 8.14 as well as Magdeburg University (OVGU) was published in the journal NMR in Biomedicine: Towards an integrated RF safety concept for implant carriers in MRI based on sensor-equipped implants and parallel transmission (doi: 10.1002/nbm.4900).
Contact:
Johannes Petzold, E-Mail: Johannes.Petzold(at)ptb.de
Dr. Dr. Jens Simon
Phone: +49 531 592-3005
Email:
jens.simon(at)ptb.de
Karin Conring
Phone: +49 531 592-3006
Fax: +49 531 592-3008
Email:
karin.conring(at)ptb.de
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Bundesallee 100
38116 Braunschweig