Jeroen van Gemert1, Wyger Brink2, Andrew Webb2, and Rob Remis1
1Circuits & Systems, University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
High permittivity materials, in the form of
“dielectric pads” are used in neuroimaging and body applications to improve B1+ homogeneity and intensity or to reduce corresponding SAR measures. In 3D,
systematic pad design is computationally intensive with very long associated
simulation times. We propose a hybrid solution to this problem by combining the
flexibility of FDTD to model complex background configurations
(coil/shield/subject) with an integral equation approach that takes the
presence of a dielectric pad into account. This solution leads to speed up
factors of 30 – 40 compared with conventional FDTD approaches and enables
effective 3D dielectric pad design.
