Abstract #0489

Validation & Comparison of Patient-Specific SAR Models

Hanno Homann¹, Peter Brnert², Kay Nehrke², Holger Eggers², Olaf Dssel¹, Ingmar Graesslin²

¹Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany; ²Philips Research Europe, Hamburg, Germany

Estimation of the specific absorption rate (SAR) is typically performed by numerical simulations using generic body models. However, this represents the local SAR in the individual patient only to a limited extent. This study evaluates a recently proposed approach for generating patient-specific body models based on whole-body water-fat-separated MR data. A comparison of measured and simulated B1-fields showed qualitative and quantitative agreement. Local SAR values vary significantly between patients. However, similar locations of SAR hotspots were observed. These results increase confidence in the validity of simulated SAR values.