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Leonardo Angelone |
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The overall goal of our
research is to assess the significance and the effect of the biological and
physical parameters on the electromagnetic field (EMF) and temperature
distribution inside the human head in presence of radio-frequency (RF) field
during high-field MRI acquisitions. The short-term questions to
be addressed include: 1) how EMF and thermal distribution are affected by spatial
resolution and anatomical accuracy of the numerical model, geometry and
physical properties of RF coils and EEG electrodes/leads, and dielectric and
thermal properties of specific tissues; b) how to evaluate the discrepancy between
numerical models and real experiment. The longer-term and broader questions we
would like to address are: 1) How EMF and thermal distribution are affected
by the presence of a disease, local and global blood perfusion of tissues; 2)
What is the significance of EMF and thermal distribution in terms of
structural and functional effects in the human head at smaller scale -
biological level. To answer these questions,
we have developed a framework based on a combination of human head models (in
collaboration with the Center for Morphometric Analysis), anatomically
accurate conductive phantoms for temperature and MRI measurements, numerical
models of RF coils, numerical models of EEG electrodes and leads, as well as
custom-made EEG caps. Computation and validation are performed using
commercially available and custom-made numerical electromagnetic and thermal
solvers.This framework has been used for safety studies (simultaneous EEG-
high-fields fMRI, Deep Brain Stimulation) and RF coil design (in
collaboration with Dr. Larry Wald). . |
