Gradient-induced vibrations and motion-induced Lenz effects on conductive nonmagnetic orthopedic implants in MRI.

Purpose: To quantify the extent of gradient-induced vibrations, and the magnitude of motion-induced displacement forces ("Lenz effect"), in conductive nonmagnetic orthopedic prostheses.

Methods: The investigation is carried out through numerical simulations, for a 3 T scanner. For gradient-induced torques and vibrations, a knee and a shoulder implant are considered, at dB/dt equal to 42 T/s (rms).

Polynomial chaos expansion of SAR and temperature increase variability in 3 T MRI due to stochastic input data.

Numerical simulations are largely adopted to estimate dosimetric quantities, e.g. specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature increase, in tissues to assess the patient exposure to the radiofrequency (RF) field generated during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Orthopedic implants affect the electric field induced by switching gradients in MRI.

Purpose: To investigate whether the risk of peripheral nerve stimulation increases in the presence of bulky metallic prostheses implanted in a patient's body.

Methods: A computational tool was used to calculate the electric field (E-field) induced in a realistic human model due to the action of gradient fields. The calculations were performed both on the original version of the anatomical model and on a version modified through "virtual surgery" to incorporate knee, hip, and shoulder prostheses.

Fast high-resolution electric properties tomography using three-dimensional quantitative transient-state imaging-based water fraction estimation.

In this study, we aimed to develop a fast and robust high-resolution technique for clinically feasible electrical properties tomography based on water content maps (wEPT) using Quantitative Transient-state Imaging (QTI), a multiparametric transient state-based method that is similar to MR fingerprinting. Compared with the original wEPT implementation based on standard spin-echo acquisition, QTI provides robust electrical properties quantification towards B inhomogeneities and full quantitative relaxometry data. To validate the proposed approach, 3D QTI data of 12 healthy volunteers were acquired on a 1.

Repeatability and Reproducibility Uncertainty in Magnetic Resonance-Based Electric Properties Tomography of a Homogeneous Phantom.

Uncertainty assessment is a fundamental step in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging because it makes comparable, in a strict metrological sense, the results of different scans, for example during a longitudinal study. Magnetic resonance-based electric properties tomography (EPT) is a quantitative imaging technique that retrieves, non-invasively, a map of the electric properties inside a human body. Although EPT has been used in some early clinical studies, a rigorous experimental assessment of the associated uncertainty has not yet been performed.

Simplified modeling of implanted medical devices with metallic filamentary closed loops exposed to low or medium frequency magnetic fields.

Background And Objectives: Electric currents are induced in implanted medical devices with metallic filamentary closed loops (e.g., fixation grids, stents) when exposed to time varying magnetic fields, as those generated during certain diagnostic and therapeutic biomedical treatments.

Computational dosimetry in MRI in presence of hip, knee or shoulder implants: do we need accurate surgery models?

To quantify the effects of different levels of realism in the description of the anatomy around hip, knee or shoulder implants when simulating, numerically, radiofrequency and gradient-induced heating in magnetic resonance imaging. This quantification is needed to define how precise the digital human model modified with the implant should be to get realistic dosimetric assessments..

3D Extrusion Printing of Biphasic Anthropomorphic Brain Phantoms Mimicking MR Relaxation Times Based on Alginate-Agarose-Carrageenan Blends.

The availability of adapted phantoms mimicking different body parts is fundamental to establishing the stability and reliability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods. The primary purpose of such phantoms is the mimicking of physiologically relevant, contrast-creating relaxation times and . For the head, frequently examined by MRI, an anthropomorphic design of brain phantoms would imply the discrimination of gray matter and white matter (WM) within defined, spatially distributed compartments.

Heating of metallic biliary stents during magnetic hyperthermia of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: an study.

Objective: To investigate the eddy current heating that occurs in metallic biliary stents during magnetic hyperthermia treatments and to assess whether these implants should continue to be an exclusion criterion for potential patients.

Methods: Computer simulations were run on stent heating during the hyperthermia treatment of local pancreatic tumors (5-15 mT fields at 300 kHz for 30 min), considering factors such as wire diameter, type of stent alloy, and field orientation. Maxwell's equations were solved numerically in a bile duct model, including the secondary field produced by the stents.

Classification Scheme of Heating Risk during MRI Scans on Patients with Orthopaedic Prostheses.

Due to the large variety of possible clinical scenarios, a reliable heating-risk assessment is not straightforward when patients with arthroplasty undergo MRI scans. This paper proposes a simple procedure to estimate the thermal effects induced in patients with hip, knee, or shoulder arthroplasty during MRI exams. The most representative clinical scenarios were identified by a preliminary frequency analysis, based on clinical service databases, collecting MRI exams of 11,658 implant carrier patients.

A contribution to MRI safety testing related to gradient-induced heating of medical devices.

Purpose: To theoretically investigate the feasibility of a novel procedure for testing the MRI gradient-induced heating of medical devices and translating the results into clinical practice.

Methods: The concept of index of stress is introduced by decoupling the time waveform characteristics of the gradient field signals from the field spatial distribution within an MRI scanner. This index is also extended to consider the anisotropy of complex bulky metallic implants.

CoSimPy: An open-source python library for MRI radiofrequency Coil EM/Circuit Cosimulation.

Background And Objectives: The Electromagnetic/Circuit cosimulation method represents a valuable and effective strategy to address those problems where a radiative structure has to interact with external supporting circuitries. This is of particular concern for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), radiofrequency (RF) coils design, where the supporting circuitry optimisation represents, generally, a crucial aspect. This article presents CoSimPy, an open-source Python circuit simulation library for Electromagnetic/Circuit cosimulations and specifically optimised for MRI, RF coils design.

A fast tool for the parametric analysis of human body exposed to LF electromagnetic fields in biomedical applications.

A numerical procedure for analyzing electromagnetic (EM) fields interactions with biological tissues is presented. The proposed approach aims at drastically reducing the computational burden required by the repeated solution of large scale problems involving the interaction of the human body with EM fields, such as in the study of the time evolution of EM fields, uncertainty quantification, and inverse problems. The proposed volume integral equation (VIE), focused on low frequency applications, is a system of integral equations in terms of current density and scalar potential in the biological tissues excited by EM fields and/or electrodes connected to the human body.

In silico assessment of collateral eddy current heating in biocompatible implants subjected to magnetic hyperthermia treatments.

Bearing partially or fully metallic passive implants represents an exclusion criterion for patients undergoing a magnetic hyperthermia procedure, but there are no specific studies backing this restrictive decision. This work assesses how the secondary magnetic field generated at the surface of two common types of prostheses affects the safety and efficiency of magnetic hyperthermia treatments of localized tumors. The paper also proposes the combination of a multi-criteria decision analysis and a graphical representation of calculated data as an initial screening during the preclinical risk assessment for each patient.

Heating of hip joint implants in MRI: The combined effect of RF and switched-gradient fields.

Purpose: To investigate how the simultaneous exposure to gradient and RF fields affects the temperature rise in patients with a metallic hip prosthesis during an MRI session.

Methods: In silico analysis was performed with an anatomically realistic human model with CoCrMo hip implant in 12 imaging positions. The analysis was performed at 1.

MRI-Related Heating of Implants and Devices: A Review.

During an MRI scan, the radiofrequency field from the scanner's transmit coil, but also the switched gradient fields, induce currents in any conductive object in the bore. This makes any metallic medical implant an additional risk for an MRI patient, because those currents can heat up the surrounding tissues to dangerous levels. This is one of the reasons why implants are, until today, considered a contraindication for MRI; for example, by scanner manufacturers.

Exposure of Live-Line Workers to Magnetic Fields: A Dosimetric Analysis.

In this paper the authors present the results of a dosimetric analysis related to the exposure of live-line workers to the magnetic fields generated by high voltage overhead lines and substations. The study extends the work published by Dawson et al. in 2002, considering more evolved anatomical models nowadays available, the new reference limits given by the 2013/35/EU Directive, and a new methodology, based on the intercomparison of two alternative solvers and the use of data filtering.

In silico evaluation of the thermal stress induced by MRI switched gradient fields in patients with metallic hip implant.

This work focuses on the in silico evaluation of the energy deposed by MRI switched gradient fields in bulk metallic implants and the consequent temperature increase in the surrounding tissues. An original computational strategy, based on the subdivision of the gradient coil switching sequences into sub-signals and on the time-harmonic electromagnetic field solution, allows to realistically simulate the evolution of the phenomena produced by the gradient coils fed according to any MRI sequence. Then, Pennes' bioheat equation is solved through a Douglas-Gunn time split scheme to compute the time-dependent temperature increase.

CSI-EPT in Presence of RF-Shield for MR-Coils.

Contrast source inversion electric properties tomography (CSI-EPT) is a recently developed technique for the electric properties tomography that recovers the electric properties distribution starting from measurements performed by magnetic resonance imaging scanners. This method is an optimal control approach based on the contrast source inversion technique, which distinguishes itself from other electric properties tomography techniques for its capability to recover also the local specific absorption rate distribution, essential for online dosimetry. Up to now, CSI-EPT has only been described in terms of integral equations, limiting its applicability to homogeneous unbounded background.

Assessment of exposure to MRI motion-induced fields based on the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to conduct an exposure assessment for workers moving through the stray stationary field of common MRI scanners, performed according to the recent International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines, which aim at avoiding annoying sensory effects.

Theory And Methods: The analysis was performed through numerical simulations, using a high-resolution anatomical model that moved along realistic trajectories in proximity to a tubular and open MRI scanner. Both dosimetric indexes indicated by ICNIRP (maximum variation of the magnetic flux density vector and exposure index for the motion-induced electric field) were computed for three statures of the human model.

Numerical prediction of temperature elevation induced around metallic hip prostheses by traditional, split, and uniplanar gradient coils.

Purpose: The paper presents a computational study for the estimation of the temperature elevation occurring in a human subject carrying metallic hip prostheses when exposed to the magnetic field produced by gradient coils.

Methods: The simulations are performed through validated numerical codes, which solve the electromagnetic and thermal equations applied to a high-resolution anatomical human model. Three different sets of gradient coils (traditional, split and uniplanar) are considered to evaluate the maximum steady-state temperature elevation in the human body.

Parametric analysis of transient skin heating induced by terahertz radiation.

This paper investigates the effect of relevant physical parameters on transient temperature elevation induced in human tissues by electromagnetic waves in the terahertz (THz) band. The problem is defined by assuming a plane wave, which, during a limited time interval, normally impinges on the surface of a 3-layer model of the human body, causing a thermal transient. The electromagnetic equations are solved analytically, while the thermal ones are handled according to the finite element method.

Numerical safety study of currents induced in the patient during rotations in the static field produced by a hybrid MRI-LINAC system.

MRI-LINAC is a new image-guided radiotherapy treatment system that combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a linear particle accelerator (LINAC) into a single unit. Moving (i.e.