Numerical Simulation of SAR for 3T Whole Body Coil: Effect of Patient Loading Positions on Local SAR Hotspot

Xin Chen¹, Yoshinori Hamamura¹, Michael Steckner¹

Previous studies have shown that local SAR levels (hotspots) are much higher than whole body average SAR with a whole body transmit coil. Local SAR hotspots depend on many factors such as tissue heterogeneity, body habitus, and patient imaging position. This abstract extends previous 3T whole body SAR simulations with chest and abdomen imaging positions to five other common positions. Results show that 1) the SAR distribution varies significantly between imaging positions, and 2) the ratios of local SAR hotspot to whole body average SAR can be over 4x higher than previously reported. While temperature increase is the key safety concern, understanding SAR distribution is an important factor in patient safety.