Specific Absorption Rate and Temperature Distributions in the Human Head with Implanted Deep Brain Stimulation Subjected to Mobile Phone Electromagnetic Radiation

Abstract

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), also known as the brain pacemaker, has gradually evolved from a scientific experiment into an effective clinical treatment for movement disorders as a method of improving movement disorders. At present, there are few studies on the effects of 5G mobile phone antenna radiation on the heads of adult patients implanted with DBS. In this study, COMSOL Multiphysics was used to establish a mobile phone model with a 5G/4G patch antenna, a real human head, and the DBS models. Then, we calculated the specific absorption rate (SAR) of various layers of the head tissues with the mobile phone at different distances from the human head, as well as the temperature change rule of the head and the DBS irradiated by the antenna for 30 min. The simulation results showed that when the frequency is 3500 MHz, the electromagnetic radiation of the phone to the patient’s head is generally greater than that of the 2400 MHz. When at 3500 MHz, the distance between the phone and the head is inversely proportional to the SAR value; thus, when the distance between the phone and the head is 1 cm, the maximum SAR value—which is 1.132 W/kg—appeared in the skin layer of the head with implanted DBS. But it is worth noting that the largest temperature rise appeared in the brain layer at 2400 MHz and at a distance of 1 cm, which is 0.2148 °C. Although the SAR values and temperature rise obtained from all simulations are below the limits of 2 W/kg and +1 °C specified by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), we still recommend that patients with implanted DBS maintain a distance when using the phones.