Ingmar Graesslin1, Hanno Homann2,
Sven Biederer3, Peter Brnert1, Giel Mens4,
Paul Harvey4
1Philips Research
Laboratories, Hamburg, Germany; 2Institute of Biomedical
Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany; 3Institute
of Medical Engineering, University of Lbeck, Lbeck, Germany; 4Philips
Healthcare, Best, Netherlands
Real-time SAR estimation is essential for efficient in vivo applications in parallel transmit MRI. In this work, a safety concept comprising two scan modes was implemented on an eight-channel 3T MRI system. In the first mode, a worst case SAR model is applied, representing multiple patient anatomies and body positions. Based on patient-specific information from the host of the scanner and a survey scan, a patient-adapted SAR model is selected. In the second mode, the selected SAR model is applied for improved SAR prediction accuracy. This mode facilitates increased scan efficiency of the parallel transmit MR system.