RF Exposure Assessment for Various Poses of Patient Assistant in Open MRI Environment

In this study, the radio-frequency (RF) energy exposure of patient assistants was assessed for an open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system based on numerical computations of the head and body RF coil. Various poses of the patient assistants were defined to see how poorly they affected the RF energy exposure. For the assessments, the peak spatial-averaged specific absorption rate (SAR) levels were carefully compared with each patient assistant pose based on the finite-difference time domain calculations of RF coil models when the patient was placed in such coils in a 0.3 Tesla open MRI system. Overall, the SAR levels of the patient assistant were much lower than those of the patient. However, significantly increased SAR levels were observed under specific conditions, including a larger loop size of the patient assistants’ arms and a closer distance to the RF coils. A comparably high level of SAR to the patient’s body was also found. More careful investigations are needed to prevent the increase of SAR in patient assistants for open MRI systems at higher field strengths.

Modal Engineering of Inductive Circuits to Achieve Rapid Settling Times

Inductive circuits and devices are a ubiquitous and important design element in many applications such as magnetic drives, galvanometers, magnetic scanners, applying DC magnetic fields to systems, RF coils in NMR systems and vast array of other applications. They are widely used to generate both DC and AC magnetic fields. Many of these applications require a rapid step and settling time, turning the DC or AC magnetic field on and off quickly. The inductive response normally makes this a challenging thing to do. In this article we discuss open loop control algorithms for achieving rapid step and settling times in four general categories of applications: DC and AC systems where the system is either under or over damped. Each of these four categories requires a different algorithm which we describe here. We show the operation of these drive methods using Simulink and Simscape modeling tools, analytical solutions to the underlying differential equations and in experimental results using an inductive magnetic coil and a Hall sensor. Finally, we demonstrate application of these techniques to significantly reduce ringing in a standard NMR circuit. We intend this article to be practical with useful, easy to apply algorithms and helpful tuning tricks.

LEGO-compatible modular mapping phantom for magnetic resonance imaging

Physical phantoms have been widely used for performance evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although there are many kinds of physical phantoms, most MRI phantoms use fixed configurations with specific sizes that may fit one or a few different types of radio frequency (RF) coils. Therefore, it has limitations for various image quality assessments of scanning areas. In this article, we report a novel design for a truly customizable MRI phantom called the LEGO-compatible Modular Mapping (MOMA) phantom, which not only serves as a general quality assurance phantom for a wide range of RF coils, but also a flexible calibration phantom for quantitative imaging. The MOMA phantom has a modular architecture which includes individual assessment functionality of the modules and LEGO-type assembly compatibility. We demonstrated the feasibility of the MOMA phantom for quantitative evaluation of image quality using customized module assembly compatible with head, breast, spine, knee, and body coil features. This unique approach allows comprehensive image quality evaluation with wide versatility. In addition, we provide detailed MOMA phantom development and imaging characteristics of the modules.

Estimating Electric Field and SAR in Tissue in the Proximity of RF Coils

Medical implants that require recharging typically use magnetic resonant coupling of transmit (external) and receive (internal) RF coils. Apart from magnetic field, the transmit coil creates a time-varying electric field that excites currents not only in the receive coil but also in the surrounding tissues. Radio frequency (RF) exposure assessment for inductive systems used in wireless powering and telemetry is done using electric field, specific absorption rate (SAR), and induced current as metrics. Full-wave analysis using RF simulation tools such as Ansys HFSS is generally used to estimate these metrics, and the results are widely accepted. However, such simulation-based analysis is quite rigorous and time-consuming, let alone the complexities with setting up the simulation.In this paper, we present a simple approach to estimating exposure (electric field, SAR, induced current) from fundamental electromagnetic principles enabling ability to arrive at results quickly. It significantly reduces the computational time in iterative approaches where multiple simulation runs are needed.