Generation of infant anatomical models for evaluating electromagnetic field exposures.

Abstract

Realistic anatomical modeling is essential in analyzing human exposure to electromagnetic fields. Infants have significant physical and anatomical differences compared with other age groups. However, few realistic infant models are available. In this work, we developed one 12-month-old male whole body model and one 17-month-old male head model from magnetic resonance images. The whole body and head models contained 28 and 30 tissues, respectively, at spatial resolution of 1 mm × 1 mm × 1 mm. Fewer identified tissues in the whole body model were a result of the low original image quality induced by the fast imaging sequence. The anatomical and physical parameters of the models were validated against findings in published literature (e.g., a maximum deviation as 18% in tissue mass was observed compared with the data from International Commission on Radiological Protection). Several typical exposure scenarios were realized for numerical simulation. Dosimetric comparison with various adult and child anatomical models was conducted. Significant differences in the physical and anatomical features between adult and child models demonstrated the importance of creating realistic infant models. Current safety guidelines for infant exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields may not be conservative.