Numerical simulation of the radiofrequency safety of 128-channel hd-EEG nets on a 29-month-old whole-body model in a 3 Tesla MRI.

Abstract

This study investigates the radiofrequency (RF) induced heating in a pediatric whole-body voxel model with a high-density electroencephalogram (hd-EEG) net during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla. A total of three cases were studied: no net (NoNet), a resistive hd-EEG (NeoNet), and a copper (CuNet) net. The maximum values of specific absorption rate averaged over 10g-mass (10gSAR) in the head were calculated with the NeoNet was 12.51 W/kg and in the case of the NoNet was 12.40 W/kg. In contrast, the CuNet case was 17.04 W/Kg. Temperature simulations were conducted to determine the RF-induced heating without and with hd-EEG nets (NeoNet and CuNet) during an MRI scan using an age-corrected and thermoregulated perfusion for the child model. The results showed that the maximum temperature estimated in the child's head was 38.38 °C for the NoNet, 38.43 °C for the NeoNet, and 43.05 °C for the CuNet. In the case of NeoNet, the maximum temperature estimated in the child's head remained compliant with IEC 60601 for the MRI RF safety limit. However, the case of CuNet estimated to exceed the RF safety limit, which may require an appropriate cooling period or a hardware design to suppress the RF-induced heating.