Abstract
A finite element thermal model of the head has been developed to calculatetemperature rises generated in the brain by radiation from cellular telephonesand similar electromagnetic devices. A 1 mm resolution MRI dataset wassegmented semiautomatically, assigning each volume element to one of tentissue types. A finite element mesh was then generated using a fully automatictetrahedral mesh generator developed at NRPB. There are two sources of heat inthe model: firstly the natural metabolic heat production; and secondly thepower absorbed from the electromagnetic field. The SAR was derived from afinite difference time domain model of the head, coupled to a model `mobilephone', namely a quarter-wavelength antenna mounted on a metal box. Thesteady-state temperature distribution was calculated using the standard Pennes`bioheat equation'. In the normal cerebral cortex the high blood perfusionrate serves to provide an efficient cooling mechanism. In the case ofequipment generally available to the public, the maximum temperature risefound in the brain was about 0.1 °C. These results will help inthe further development of criteria for exposure guidelines, and the techniquedeveloped may be used to assess temperature rises associated with SARs fordifferent types of RF exposure.
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