Radio-Frequency Heating in Swine Due to a 3T (123.2 MHz) and 7T (296 MHz) Head Coil

Devashish Shrivastava¹, Lynn Utecht¹, Jinfeng Tian¹, Timothy Hanson², JT Vaughan¹

Radio-frequency (RF) heating was measured using fluoroptic probes in the scalp; 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm in the brain; and rectum in eight anesthetized swine due to a continuous wave power deposition from a 15 rung, 3T head coil and an 8 channel, 7T head coil (N=4 for each coil). The heating was simulated using the analytical generic bioheat transfer model (GBHTM) and the empirical gold standard Pennes bioheat transfer equation (BHTE). The RF power induced temperature changes did not achieve plateau. The GBHTM simulated the heating more accurately than the Pennes BHTE.