Controlling Induced Currents in Guidewires Using Parallel Transmit

Maryam Etezadi-Amoli¹, Pascal Stang¹, Marta G. Zanchi¹, John M. Pauly¹, Greig C. Scott¹, Adam B. Kerr¹

RF transmit fields during MRI can induce currents and unsafe heating in conductive structures such as guidewires and implanted device leads. In this work, we used parallel transmit to control the level of current induced in a guidewire. We found experimentally that only one transmit mode from a four-channel array induced any appreciable current in a guidewire, while the remaining three modes induced no significant current, yet still provided adequate visualization of the volume. A parallel transmit approach thus offers a safe way of imaging in the presence of implanted conductive structures.